Dillian Whyte Speaks on his Pre-Fight Silence and His Feeling About Tyson Fury
At long last, Dillian Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) gets his world title shot. The 34-year-old from the Brixton section of London, England will face WBC heavyweight champ Tyson Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) on April 23 at Wembley Stadium in London.
A big topic of discussion has been Whyte’s actions during many of the pre-fight media festivities. It includes his decision to bypass the official press conference to announce the fight.
While he did appear at a conference call for boxing media on April 14, he’s been M.I.A., choosing to stay at his training camp in Portugal. But during an interview with BT Sports Boxing, the hard-hitting challenger spoke about his relative silence. Asked if he has any regrets, he gave this response.
HE WOULDN’T CHANGE A THING
“I don’t regret anything. I’m a professional, I’m a top guy […] Obviously, he’s the heavyweight champion. So, I understand what they’re doing and what they’re saying. But you can’t buy a high-performance car and not put a high-performance fuel in it, and that’s what they’re trying to do. They won the fight and was trying to treat me like nothing.
They didn’t want to pay anything. […] They wanted to just say, ‘well we won the fight, you have to do what we say.’ No, it’s not. I don’t have to do what you say. I am my own man. I do what I want to do.”
Even though Team Fury won the purse to promote the event, Whyte feels their actions have been unprofessional and not in good faith. He made it a point to say he’s not contractually obligated to attend any press conference. Noting how Fury pulled out of a fight against Alexander Ustinov in 2014 and refused to participate in a press event for his fight against then-unified heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in 2015, Whyte wonders why he’s received so much backlash from fans and pundits
It’s water under the bridge now as the fight is just days away. The challenger now says his focus is on taking care of business in the ring. All the talk Fury has done up to this point means nothing.
LETTING FEELINGS BE KNOWN
“Tyson Fury says a lot of shit. His mouth is like a toilet, just keeps on flushing, and flushing, and flushing, and flushing. That’s Tyson Fury. He just flushes any random shit that comes out of his mouth. So, I really don’t care about what he says or what he does.
But we’re going to fight regardless. We’re gonna get in there, we’re going to fight regardless. I don’t care what he says. I don’t care about mind games, I don’t care about all that. Listen, I’m a fighter, I’m a warrior. If he wants it, anytime, anywhere I’m down. I don’t give a fuck about this, that, and the other. […] He can’t get into my head. He gets in my head, he’s just gonna find a lot of disturbance in there, so I don’t give a fuck.”
The road to fighting for the WBC belt has been a long one for Whyte. Overcoming all kinds of obstacles in and out of the ring, Whyte says no stone has been left unturned as far as his preparation. Everything is in order as he left this last message about what he expects.
“I just want violence now to begin. I want the violence to begin. You know, I’m calm, I’m cool. But inside it’s just rage, and violence is just going off in my head.”
Understanding that the upcoming battle with Fury will be tough, Whyte feels more than ready. The man from Brixton feels his time is now.
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By: Michael Wilson Jr.
