Now that the drama of will he, won’t he – as in, will Dillian Whyte sign the contract for the Tyson Fury fight or won’t he – is over, Whyte has to go in there and actually win the fight in the ring. By making Fury wait and wonder, Whyte may or may not have won the mind-games but this will count for nought if Whyte cannot beat Fury on fight night. Can Whyte do it, and become world champion at the relatively advanced age of 34, this in his first title shot after having waited and waited for his chance?
Another good question is, will Whyte play his part in building up the April 23 fight, with press conference appearances and the like over the two months between now and fight night? Will Whyte’s fun and games of remaining silent continue? We will soon see. As for the fight, Whyte’s trainer, Xavier Miller says his fighter will be “too much” for Fury.
“I just think Dillian is going to be a little too much for him,” Miller said to Talk Sport. “I think that [Wladimir] Klitschko was right at the end of his career. Even though it was a fantastic win, it’s not a fight anyone is going to go on YouTube and watch again. It was awful. It wasn’t a good fight, but Tyson has actually become a fan-friendly fighter now. The Wilder fights were a couple of decent fights and I will watch them back. I think that is why this is the best time to have this kind of fight. Dillian likes to be in exciting fights, Tyson seems to be going that way now. I respect him, he’s skilled. He’s been boxing a hell of a long time so he knows exactly what he’s doing. I think he found the right dance partner in Deontay Wilder, but Wilder is not Dillian.”
Fury will likely be a big betting favourite to win the April fight, and rightly so; Whyte was of course knocked out by an ageing Alexander Povetkin – ‘lucky punch’ or not. And Fury has shown the strength of his chin, in two of the three Wilder fights in particular. So if Whyte cannot stop Fury he will have to outbox him. Not too many fans seem to think Whyte will be able to do that. So it is a tough ask, coming up with an explanation of how Whyte will be able to beat Fury.
What we could get, though, is a fun fight, an entertaining battle where challenger and champion take turns landing hefty shots. Miller says Whyte can “take you out with one shot,” and he points to the second fight Whyte had with Dereck Chisora as proof. Miller says Whyte has “a lot more tools in the box” than Wilder, Fury’s most testing foe until now. “It’s a different puzzle for Tyson, there’s going to be a lot for him to deal with.”
One asset Whyte might be able to use to good effect is his noted body punching. Again, it could be a great action fight on April 23. And after all the waiting, let’s hope this turns out to be the case.