Due to the recent alarming number of controversial score-cards handed in by British judges at the conclusion of a fight – the recent Josh Taylor-Jack Catterall fight for example – Tyson Fury said ahead of this Saturday’s fight with Dillian Whyte that he wanted no British judges working the fight. This was agreed and now it has been confirmed how three foreign judges will work the fight at Wembley – Juan Carlos Pelayo of Mexico, Robert Tapper of Canada, and Guido Cavalleri of Italy.
There will, however, be a British referee working the fight, this to be Mark Lyson. WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed this when speaking with DAZN News.
But will the judges even be needed on Saturday night? Most people you ask feel this fight will not go the distance, that someone will fall. Fury has made no bones about giving away his game plan, saying he will go right at Whyte, looking to “smash him” with a big punch right from the off. Whyte has said he will test Fury’s huge torso like no other fighter has ever tested it. No, neither guy is looking for a decision win.
Of course, when it comes to Fury, we never know what he’s really thinking. It is possible Fury will do the exact opposite to what he says he’ll do, and maybe he will box and look to frustrate Whyte. We will only find out on the night. No-one really believed Fury when he told us, ahead of his second fight with Deontay Wilder, that he would go right at Wilder, yet he was as good as his word.
Most experts feel Fury will win on Saturday, yet some do give Whyte a legit puncher’s chance. While David Haye seriously ruffled John Fury’s feathers by picking Whyte to beat his son. It’s a massive fight – with a staggering 94,000 tickets shifted – and there is, with us now in fight week, that buzz in the air; the kind of buzz big heavyweight fights have around them.
One thing everyone seems to agree on is the fact that Saturday’s fight will not be a dull or boring affair. There will be fireworks. And those three judges at ringside may wind up getting paid for basically doing nothing!
Pick: Fury has to overcome some rough patches, maybe even a knockdown, before stopping a constantly dangerous Whyte in the 10th round of a superb battle.