Ring Magazine/WBC heavyweight champ Tyson Fury out-boxed battle-tested WBC mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte for five rounds before letting his countryman know that he wasn’t on his level with a perfectly timed right uppercut near that ended the bout near the end of the sixth round in front of a record crowd at Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday.
“How better does it get than this?” Fury asked after the fight, “94,000 people in this stadium, in my country. My father, who has not seen me fight live in four years, got to see his son become a legend in front of this crowd.”
Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs), who was making the second defense of The Ring and WBC titles he won by stopping Deontay Wilder in their February 2020 rematch in Las Vegas, safely controlled Whyte for five rounds with feints, lateral movement, a sharp long-range jab and occasional right hands, body shots and check hooks. Whyte (28-3, 19 KOs), The Ring’s No. 4-rated heavyweight, had some moments in Round 4 when he was able to roughhouse with Fury, but the most accomplished big man to have not held a world title was unable to land his vaunted hook or get any sort of sustained attack going against the lineal champion.
Whyte gave former two-time unified titleholder Anthony Joshua a hellish night in late 2015 before getting stopped in seven rousing rounds, and then went on 12-1 run, which included victories over Joseph Parker, Oscar Rivas, Robert Helenius and Dereck Chisora (twice). He was upset by Alexander Povetkin, who stopped him with a single uppercut in the fifth round of their first bout in 2020, but the brash Brixton man rebounded to halt the Russian veteran in four rounds last March.
Fury’s uppercut arguably rivaled the impact and effectiveness of the one Povetkin landed, although he followed it with a shove and Whyte was able to struggle to his feet before the referee’s 10 count.
“Slip, bang, it was a peach of punch,” said Fury, who was looking for the appropriate time to drop a right-hand finisher. “(Referee) Mark Lyson got it right tonight (by not allowing the fight to continue) because Whyte could have gotten seriously hurt. I think Lennox Lewis could even be proud of the right uppercut tonight.
“Whyte’s a warrior. He’s a tough, game man, but he fought a legend tonight.”
Fury had hinted at retirement during the buildup to the Whyte event and he was asked about those intentions during his various post-fight interviews. He said that he promised his wife that he would be done with boxing following his punishing Fight of the Year rubbermatch with Wilder last year, but he wanted to have a homecoming fight before hanging up his gloves. Mission accomplished. Fury now will ride off into the sunset. Maybe.
The winner of the Oleksandr Usyk-Joshua rematch is still on deck, along with the opportunity to become the undisputed champion. And there’s UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, who Fury was more than happy to invite into the ring and talk up a potential hybrid combat matchup that would no doubt do big business.
So, maybe we haven’t seen the last of the Gypsy King.
