Dillian Whyte isn’t interested in this week’s fight build-up or the mind games with Tyson Fury, he just wants violence.
‘The Body Snatcher’ spoke to journalist Steve Bunce during a near 30-minute interview for BT Sport and appeared happy and content over in Portugal where he has been preparing for the biggest fight of his career.
At one stage it had appeared like Saturday’s WBC heavyweight title bout at Wembley Stadium may not happen due to ongoing contractual issues and disputes. Whyte’s silence until last week was also a cause for concern and his no-show at the launch press conference infuriated and angered Fury’s co-promoter Frank Warren.
“I don’t regret anything,” said Whyte.
“I’m a professional. I’m a top guy. This ain’t The Tyson Fury Show. This is The Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte show. And from where I stand it’s the Dillian Whyte and Tyson Fury show.
“You can’t buy a high-performance car and not put high performance fuel in it and that’s what they’re trying to do. They won the fight (purse bids) and they’re trying to treat me like nothing. They don’t wanna pay anything, they don’t want to look after things properly. ‘We won the fight you have to do what we say’. I don’t have to do what you say. I’m my own man. I do what I wanna do and unless you wanna play ball and do things properly and sit down with my team and work things out… even today (at time of interview), last minute they’re trying to work stuff out now.”
Whyte spoke about his colourful past where at times he didn’t have food, had to eat out of bins and in his own words, ‘was left to die’. Shot, stabbed, becoming a father at 13 years old and constantly ‘ducking and diving’ are all part of a remarkable story that has led him to where he is now. What you see is what you get with Dillian Whyte. He does exactly what it says on the tin, and he has little time for anything Tyson Fury has had to say about him.
“Tyson Fury says a lot of shit. His mouth’s like a toilet, it just keeps on flushing and flushing and flushing. That’s Tyson Fury. He just flushes any random bullshit that comes out of his mouth. I don’t really care what he says or does. We’re going to get in there and fight regardless. I don’t care about mind games. He can’t get in my head; he gets in my head he’s just going to find a lot of disturbance in there.”
As for the fight itself much will be made about Fury’s height and weight advantage on fight night. Six feet nine, five inches taller than Whyte, and since his comeback in 2018 ‘The Gypsy King’ has fought seven times with an average weight of 265lbs. In that time Whyte has also fought on seven occasions and is only 10lbs lower than Fury’s average.
“Physically I’m probably one of the strongest boxers to ever live,” said the challenger.
“I’m not one that says these things or talk lightly about these things. He’s a big guy, he’s taller than me, he’s this that and the other. Tyson Fury is not the most physically strongest guy. I know that from being around. Look how long it took to finish Wilder off. Wilder was breathing out of his arse after three rounds.”
“But you know hard this fight is,” said Steve Bunce.
“I’m under no illusions,” Whyte responded. “We’ve been working. I’m feeling good, I’m feeling happy. I just want the violence to begin. I’m calm, I’m cool but inside it’s just rage and violence. It’s just going off in my head.”
With an open workout (ongoing at time of publishing), press conference and weigh-in still to be staged no-one knows what Whyte or Fury are going to do this week giving the unpredictability of both men. The betting underdog told Bunce that he’s looking forward to getting on the scales and then chilling in his hotel. He certainly gave no indication that he would be attending the first two fight week events. Bunce then asked Whyte if he wanted to go face to face with the champion a few days out from the fight.
“It’s not that I don’t wanna do it, I’m a professional. A soldier goes to war and does what he need to do. He turns up, he picks up his rifle, he gets his orders, he goes out and execute. If he comes back, he comes back. If he doesn’t come back, he doesn’t come back. That’s my mindset. A lion don’t hunt because he’s hungry, a lion hunt because that’s what he knows what to do.”