On Thursday, Tyson Fury sounded VERY angry when asked about the WBC ordering him to defend his heavyweight title against mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte.
One gets the sense that Fury doesn’t like being told what to do by the World Boxing Council, particularly when it involves him needing to face someone dangerous and has been one of his critics over the years.
For starters, the 33-year-old Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) says he’s not sure if the fight with Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) will happen or not because his promoters Frank Warren and Bob Arum will ultimately make the decision.
Arum had wanted to hammer out an undisputed fight between Fury and IBF/WBA/WBO champion Oleksander Usyk. Still, Anthony Joshua has proven to be an impediment to that fight happening.
There’s still an outside possibility that a step aside deal can be put together for Joshua to move out of the way so Fury and Usyk can battle it out.
That’s the fight many boxing fans would like to see right now, but it’s not looking good. Joshua seems to be digging in his heels about wanting the rematch with Usyk, and you can understand that.
AJ was badly humiliated last September, and he wants to erase that image from the fans’ minds by defeating Usyk as he did with Andy Ruiz Jr in their rematch in 2019.
Fury is unsure Whyte fight happens
“How many days has he been my mandatory? One, yesterday, so welcome to the big GK world,” said Tyson Fury to Behind The Gloves in reacting to the WBC making Dillian Whyte his mandatory this week.
“I’ve known Dillian for a long time; we go back a long way. He’s improved a lot over the last few years, but the outcome will be the same. I’ll knock him out. IF that fight happens, then I’ll knock him out.
“I have no idea [when the fight with Whyte will happen]. You’ll have to speak with Frank Warren and Bob Arum about that sort of thing.
“If I’m boxing in March, then I’ll probably start [training] in February]. I’m not focused on any of them. I told you that two seconds ago,” said an angry-sounding Fury when asked about the possibility of Anthony Joshua being given a step aside so that he could fight IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk next.
“I’m not interested in what they do. They’re all a pack of bums as far as I’m concerned. I’m not interested. As I say, the promoters will make the fights happen, and I’ll turn up and collect a paycheck and knock a mother f**** out like I always do,” said Fury sounding menacing.
“It’s no biggie; it’s another day at the office. I don’t care if it’s Usyk, Dillian Whyte, Joshua, or Wilder again. Whoever it’s going to be next, the outcome will be the same for me. In my mind, the outcome is going to be the same,” said Fury.
If Fury doesn’t want to fight Whyte, he can permanently vacate his WBC title, and the problem will be solved. Whyte could then scrap for the vacant WBC belt against one of the top contenders while Fury waits for the smoke to clear from the Joshua vs. Usyk rematch.
Looking at it from a business perspective, Fury should vacate his WBC title because any risk isn’t a good thing right now for him. He could make $100 million fighting the winner of the Joshua-Usyk fight, and he cannot afford to lose the chance to make that kind of dough by taking a risky title defense against Whyte.
If there weren’t that kind of money hanging over Fury’s head, a fight with Whyte would make perfect sense, but not now. Fury would be foolish to fight Whyte next because there’s too much to lose.
Whyte will be a sitting duck, not strong enough, undersized, no movement, flat footed, sitting out on the end of heavy punch combos and jabs from Fury, with Whyte hoping to land one big punch. Just a payday and a beat down for Whyte. Doesn’t go the distance, and I’d be angry too if I were Tyson. This fight is predictable and boring.