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Longtime WBC mandatory contender Dillian Whyte 28-2 (19) will finally get his chance to fight for the heavyweight title held by Tyson Fury 31-0-1 (22) when they clash at Wembley Stadium in London, England on Saturday night.
The 34-year-old South Londoner suffered a setback when he was knocked out by Alexander Povetkin 36-3-1 (25) in the fifth round in August 2020 but he reversed the result in their immediate rematch seven months later, stopping the Russian veteran in four.
WBC heavyweight champion Fury, 33, has reinvented himself from a boxer to a puncher since hooking up with trainer SugarHill Steward at the Kronk gym in Detroit. In his past two bouts he has knocked out heavy-handed former champion Deontay Wilder 42-2-1 (41) in seven and 11 rounds, dropping him a total of five times.
“It means everything to me to be fighting in my home country, and especially because it’s for the world title at Wembley,” Whyte said at the final press conference to promote the fight.
“It’s not too far from where I’m from. It means everything. It’s massive. It’s a moment I’ve been waiting for. It’s a big fight. Like Tyson said, we didn’t expect to be here. But I’m here, but I’ve taken risks time and time again. I’ve had a couple slipups along the way, but I’m here and I’m ready to go. You won’t hear any bullshit from me. I’m ready to go.”
Whyte refused to take part in previous media event to promote the bout, opting instead to remain in training camp in Portugal.
“There was no strategy. There are two sides to his story. You only hear one side of the story because one side says a lot of things. Because I didn’t say anything, everyone was saying ‘you’re scared’ and ‘you’re hiding.’ I ain’t scared of shit. I ain’t hiding from shit. Stuff needed to get done,” Whyte said.
“Obviously, the fight was signed. But there were other things behind the scenes that needed to get signed. Me and [Fury co-promoter] Frank [Warren] got together. Credit due to him as me and my team were trying to pick up the phone for a long time to get stuff done.
“This is one of those fights where I’ve been working on being adaptable. I’m going to have to adapt, make smart decisions, when I need to do what and how I need to do it, and how I need to approach what I’m doing. So that’s it. There’s no strategy here. That’s it. I just need to go in there and do my thing.”
President of Fury’s co-promoter Top Rank Todd duBoef added: “This is more than boxing. This is the world of sport. This is a global epicenter for entertainment and sport. It’s a tribute to all of us in the room.
“It’s a tribute to Frank Warren, BT Sport and especially these two prizefighters who have brought it all for the many years and hard work in the gym to elevate the sport. The world is all going to be watching, not only 94,000 [fans at the venue]. This is an honor to be a part of and it’s going to be a wonderful night. We will all remember this.”
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