Tyson Fury has accused Dillian Whyte of attempting rough “cheat” tactics by trying to heatbutt and elbow him during his doomed attempt to win the world heavyweight title. Both fighters were repeatedly warned by referee Mark Lyson before Fury, the WBC title holder, ended the argument in the sixth round with a vicious right uppercut.
Fury had already been urging Lyson to stop the fight after Whyte rose unsteadily to his feet (watch video below) but had been complaining during the fight about his opponent’s tactics, particularly on those relatively few occasions when he got in close.
“He tried hitting me with elbows, head, he tried nutting me, done a Wladimir Klitschko on me,” said Fury.
“He was trying everything. He was using forearms, trying to elbow me. When you try and cheat in a fight, you always come up second best.
“He tried to make it rough, fair play to him, he was trying to man handle me in there. Have you ever tried to wrestle with a dinosaur? I'm like a T-rex in there. I'm 6ft 9, 270lbs. It's difficult.”
Fury also claimed that Whyte’s cut, which followed a clash of heads in the fourth round and later required stitches, had been a direct result of his dirty tactics. “He went to nut me and got cut,” said Fury. Ringside analysts seemed to disagree, however, and suggested during commentary that the clash was the sort of boxing incident for which neither fighter was to blame.
With his superior reach, Fury had been dominating the fight at distance and had looked somewhat more uncomfortable during those moments when Whyte did get close. Fury would then often lean forward in an attempt to smother the danger and referee Lyson was clearly unhappy over punches that were thrown after he had called for the fighters to break.
Whyte felt that he had been in the fight up until what was effectively a one-punch knockout. “There wasn't a lot in it - it was a close fight and I didn't feel like I was outclassed in there,” Whyte told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“My game plan was to press him and start moving forward. I was trying to attack but one slip and I got caught with the shot.
“He's a big, awkward guy - I was expecting that. It was always going to be an awkward fight, but I was trying to set up and be patient and land what I could early and from round three onwards start to press. It was a good learning experience.”
Fury, who remains unbeaten, said that Whyte was simply facing a futile task and, ahead of his stated plan to now join Rocky Marciano in retiring as boxing’s second undefeated world heavyweight champion, claimed to be the best in history. “He didn’t fight a world champion, I ain’t no world champion,” said Fury. “I’m a legend in this game. You can’t deny it, I’m the best heavyweight there’s ever been."
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