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| Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte pose on the Wembley pitch after their final press conference this week |
Heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury and challenger Dillian Whyte went face-to-face with respect and a handshake on Wednesday in a final news conference before their big fight at Wembley Stadium.
Furyโs WBC title will be on the line on Saturday when the 33-year-old โGypsy Kingโ faces former sparring partner, fellow-Briton and top-ranked contender Whyte in front of a 94,000 sellout crowd.
Promoter Frank Warren predicted a classic night of boxing and the champion said people under-estimated how good it was going to be.
โHeโs a good fighter. Heโs a good, strong, solid man. Heโs big, heโs strong, heโs tough, heโs game, heโs got a good punch on him, heโs knocked out a lot of men,โ Fury said as he and Whyte faced a packed media audience.
โHeโs got a lot of experience in the fight game, he was also a kickboxer and an MMA man, so heโs definitely a man that needs a lot of respect.
โIโve trained as hard for Dillian as I did for (Deontay) Wilder or (Wladimir) Klitschko or anybody. So heโll be fighting the best Tyson Fury.
โIโm in great shape, Iโve had good sparring, Iโve had good food, Iโve drunk my water and had my vitamins so thereโs no excuses from me. Iโm injury free and thatโs it,โ added the champion.
Whyte, the โBody Snatcherโ, has been waiting years for his shot at a world title and said he planned to show up, do the job and disappear.
โIโm willing to do whatever it takes,โ he said. โVictory by any means necessary, Iโll do that. Iโm not scared to take risks. Iโve taken risks all my life.โ
While Fury has an unbeaten record of 31 wins and a draw, with 22 knockouts, Whyte has twice lost in 30 fights.
When tempers flared theatrically on stage between Furyโs father John and Whyteโs brother Dean, the situation was calmed by the two fighters pushing back their entourages and then shaking hands.
โPeople want a big ruckus at press conferences, they want to see screaming and shouting and punching, but let the two boxers do a fight and enjoy it,โ said Fury. โItโs not for entourages to get involved.
โWeโre here to do a fight. The manโs doing his job, getting paid to do it and so am I. People are in for a real fight. We donโt need to scream and shout.
โIt was all good, very respectful stuff.โ
REUTERS
