Fury: Whyte has shown he’s terrified

Tyson Fury says Dillian Whyte has shown he is “terrified” by not showing up for Tuesday’s launch of their heavyweight title clash.

Whyte opted to remain at his training camp in Portugal as he prepares for the WBC title bout at Wembley on April 23, while Fury faced the media in London on Tuesday.

Last week the British duo narrowly beat a deadline to sign their contracts for the highly anticipated bout, which will see Fury fight in England for the first time since 2018.

“He has definitely shown a white flag today,” Fury said. “All this social media stuff, I’m not promoting the fight, I’m not getting involved in mind games.

“He’s given me that much more confidence it’s unbelievable.

“He’s terrified. He’s definitely showing the white flag in my estimation of this fight.

“The way he’s going on about it, saying he doesn’t want to go face-to-face, of course he doesn’t, because he’ll see that fire in my eyes and he’ll think, ‘I’m getting smashed to bits’.

“That’s what it is, it’s fear, it’s terror. It’s all of the above and I don’t blame him for not being here today.”

‘Whyte will try to chin me’

The Brixton man secured his WBC mandatory title shot after knocking out Alexander Povetkin in a rematch last March, while Fury retained his WBC belt with an 11th-round knockout of Deontay Wilder in October.

Fury acknowledged the danger Whyte will pose in the ring, but insists he will use the opportunity to showcase his talents.

“I’m looking to show the people and the boxing fraternity how good I really am, and what better opponent to do it against than a man who’s been calling for the fight for 352 years,” Fury said.

“He finally gets his shot on the biggest stage, against the biggest champion, on the biggest night. I will not fail, I’m just going to show you how great I really am.

“I fought some tasty competitors over the years. I know Dillian Whyte, we go back a long way. We go back to like 2012. He’s a tough guy, he’s a good, game fighter. He will bring what he can and he will try and chin me, that’s a fact.

“He’s definitely up there with the top 10 fights I’ve had, but we’ll all find out on the night. I could say he could be No 2 or 22, but if he doesn’t perform on the night then he’ll never get the credit for it, or if I demolish him one round he’ll never get any credit, but if it’s a good fight then he’ll definitely get his credit.”

‘Whyte similar to Chisora | I can handle that style’

One of few mutual opponents for the pair during their careers has been fellow Brit Derek Chisora, who both have beaten on two separate occasions.

Fury says he sees similarities between Whyte and Chisora, who shared highly competitive encounters in 2016 and 2018, which adds to his confidence ahead of the bout.

“I think they’re both pretty similar,” Fury said. “They had two good fights together.

“It was nip and tuck in the first, I actually thought Derek nicked the fight by a few rounds. The second fight was going Derek’s way as well, and he obviously got chinned late.

“Very, very close competitive fights. I think they’re very similar in stature, weight, and in style, and I’ve handled that style plenty before.”