Does Dillian Whyte have a chance to beat Tyson Fury when they glove up April 23, at Wembley Stadium?
Sure, in theory. But for some reason I feel like nah, it’s just not in the cards for Whyte. That’s me, though…What does SugarHill Steward, the trainer of Fury, think on the matter?
“Yeah, Dillian Whyte has a chance,” Steward told BoyleSports Boxing. “He can punch, he’s a tremendous puncher. He’s almost got as many knockouts as Tyson Fury.”
Sugar telling Fury to ramp it up in the third Wilder fight. Fury listened, he ramped!
Bless Steward, he knows he can’t outright say no. There is a fight to hype, after all. I mean, Whyte is not a “tremendous puncher.” Yeah, I’m still dubious.
Dillian Whyte, holding a 28-2 record, turned 34 years old on April 11. I fear that he’s looking at this bout as a cashout, a win/win. Meaning, he wins even if he loses, because the check he gets is large enough to live on till his end of days, even after taxes and dispersion.
Nope, I don’t know what’s going on in his camp, but I’d not be surprised if Dillian Whyte showed up weighing closer to what he weighed for his 2019 labored outing against Mariusz Wach, in the 270s, than in the high 240s, which is what he weighed for his avenge victory over Alexandre Povetkin on March 27, 2021.
And yeah, what about rust? It’s been a year since he rumbled, and Dillian Whyte doesn’t strike me as the type who keeps his skills knife sharpened year round.
And have you forgotten about this?
I haven’t….And I’m pretty sure Whyte hasn’t, either.
I’m with Steward when he talks about Fury being in position to put Whyte away early.
“Tyson Fury is the knockout King,” said the nephew of the king of Kronk, Emanuel Steward. “He dethroned the previous knockout king (Deontay Wilder) so that makes Tyson legitimately the knockout king. He’s the big puncher in boxing now, the same way he dethroned Wladimir Klitschko, he dethroned Deontay Wilder by knocking him out – giving him a taste of his own medicine – twice. That makes Tyson legitimately, factually the biggest puncher in boxing. You can’t become the biggest puncher in boxing if you don’t take out the bigger puncher.”
Steward sure does make a fine point when he touches on the fact that even a non killer has a chance. And yes, Whyte is a non killer. His hand speed is such that I don’t see the defensive master Fury getting caught with something he doesn’t see, though of course stranger things have happened.
Whyte just turned 34, his best days are likely behind him. And his behavior when this fight got announced, and subsequently, has been strange. He refused to help promote it because he thinks he’s not being paid enough. No, it doesn’t seem like he’s in optimal shape mentally for this task.
“Everybody has a chance in the heavyweight division, that’s why it’s the most exciting division,” Steward continued. “Everybody wants one heavyweight to hit the other heavyweight and them to go down. That’s it. That’s what the heavyweight division brings. That’s what the heavyweight division is about. It’s about that one punch knockout at any given time, it can happen.”
Me, I think Fury finishes Dillian Whyte in round 4 or 5. Whyte has been preoccupied with the notion he’s not getting paid what he deserves, even though he’s supposedly getting around $7M. Yes, I question how dialed in Whyte has been on the tall task he faces at Wembley.
“We’re going for the knockout, get that knockout every time,” the trainer Steward continued. “First round, second, third, fourth, fifth, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 and 12. Every round, every moment we’ll be looking for the knockout, looking for that knockout punch, looking to make the guy make the mistake and when he makes the mistake we’re going to catch him.”
And bless Steward, I adore his take on how to handle business in the ring: “There’s judges and everything but why do we want to use judges when there’s two men in there who can decide this fight on their own? There’s an old saying – if you want something done right do it yourself.”
It will be done—Fury will drop and stop Dillian Whyte, who is a threat to take that moolah and wave adios, never to return to the ring.
