Published during weekdays on Boxing Social, the incomparable Terry Dooley delivers his unique look at the boxing news.
Dillian Whyte’s status as a promotional free agent has not prevented long-time associate Eddie Hearn stating that Fury-Whyte could take place in the UK, but the reality of the situation is also that Hearn has tried to secure Fury’s services for a while now without any success and Fury seems happy with the current Bob Arum- Frank Warren axis that he is working under. Either way, Whyte just wants it to happen sometime soon.
“I don’t care who promotes it,” he added. “What is most important to me is the fight. The belt is great and I want it but it’s about the fight…we will go wherever the highest bid is. Let’s see who that is. I’m a free agent so I can go where I want but I work closely with Matchroom out of loyalty over the years and we do good business together. Now Matchroom are with DAZN but we have to go wherever makes sense for us. Eddie is on board with that.”
Former 140lbs and 147lbs world champion Ricky Hatton worked with Fury under trainer Ben Davison for the first Wilder fight, and he believes that the heavyweight has nothing left to prove so should retire undefeated and enjoy his life. “Tyson’s proved himself,” he said when speaking to the Mail.
“He’s had that trilogy with Wilder, he beat [Wladimir] Klitschko. Tyson’s not like AJ: he’s suffered from depression, drinks and drugs and all he now wants is the defining fights and to get out the game. Let’s have it right, if Tyson wants to retire he’s got nothing more to prove. The only thing that Tyson wants to know in his own mind, just like AJ does, is who the best out of he and AJ is.”
He added: “But Tyson can’t wait another two years while he fights him and he fights him, he’ll want to be in and out now… It’s a shame if the AJ fight doesn’t happen, and if it does it has to happen quickly, because Tyson’s ready for hanging up his gloves now. As his friend, I want him to hang them up — he’s got nothing left to prove.”
Mike Tyson has told Yahoo! Finance that although he still has his moments with pushy fans he is nowhere near as angry as he used to be after years of recreational marijuana use. Fans who used to approach the former two-time heavyweight world champion would either be given short shrift or, in some cases, a hook.
“My life was just miserable, I was out of control,” he said. “I was fighting with anybody. If someone asked me for an autograph, I’d punch them in the face. I was just a mess and then, after I retired, I started smoking.
“What a mistake that was — I should have smoked my whole career! I should have smoked when I was fighting because it put me in this different state of mind. I’m very relaxed and the more relaxed you are, the better fighter you are, at least in my case.”
Tyson, though, did use the drug during his career, most notably going into a fight against Andrew Golota that was ruled as a No Contest after he tested positive post-fight. However, he argued, kind of counter-productively, that his pre-fight drug use elevated that night’s performance.
“I broke his cheek bone, his eye socket, his rib — I should have been doing this from the beginning. And I said, ‘Wow’, I got fined for that, of course, but it was worth every bit of it.”
Main image: Matchroom Boxing.