Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte

Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte was a professional boxing event that featured heavyweight professional boxing match contested between WBC and The Ring heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, and WBC interim heavyweight champion, Dillian Whyte.^[1] The bout took place on Saturday 23 April 2022 at Wembley Stadium in London, England.^[2]

Tyson Fury vs. Dillian Whyte

Date	23 April 2022
Venue	Wembley Stadium, Brent, London, United Kingdom
Title(s) on the line	WBC, TBRB and The Ring heavyweight titles
Tale of the tape
Boxer Tyson Fury Dillian Whyte Nickname "The Gypsy King" "The Body Snatcher" Hometown Wythenshawe, Manchester, UK Brixton, London, UK Purse $33,640,500 $7,384,500 Pre-fight record 31–0–1 (22 KO) 28–2 (19 KO) Age 33 years, 8 months 34 years Height 6 ft 9 in (206 cm) 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) Weight 265+1⁄2 lb (120 kg) 253+1⁄4 lb (115 kg) Style Orthodox[nb 1] Orthodox Recognition WBC, TBRB and The Ring Heavyweight Champion WBC Interim Heavyweight Champion TBRB No. 3 Ranked Heavyweight The Ring No. 4 Ranked Heavyweight
Result
Fury wins via 6th-round TKO

Background

On 9 October 2021, undefeated WBC and The Ring heavyweight champion Tyson Fury defended his world titles against former WBC champion Deontay Wilder in their trilogy match, when he defeated Wilder via eleventh-round knockout in a widely acclaimed contest that was named The Ring magazine Fight of the Year 2021.^[3] Fury's mandatory challenger, Dillian Whyte, had been scheduled to face southpaw Otto Wallin in a defence of his WBC interim title later that month on 30 October, but the fight was cancelled days beforehand after it was alleged that Whyte had suffered a shoulder injury, ruling him out of contention. Whyte ultimately did not reschedule the fight, opting to bypass Wallin for a shot at Fury's world titles.^[4]

On 30 December 2021, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman, who had ordered Fury to defend his WBC title against Whyte, ruled that the champion Fury would be entitled to 80% of the purse, compared to Whyte's 20% as the challenger.^[5] Sulaiman had set a deadline of 11 January 2022 for purse bids, as the two fighters' camps could not agree to terms. However, this deadline was pushed back multiple times, in part due to ongoing negotiations from Fury's team who were trying to secure the fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship against undefeated WBA (Super), IBF and WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. A fight between Fury and Usyk did not materialise, as deposed former champion Anthony Joshua was unwilling to step aside to allow the two champions to fight.^[6]

The deadline for the Fury-Whyte purse bids was ultimately scheduled for 28 January 2022, when it was announced that Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions had won the rights to promote the fight, with a winning bid of $41,025,000 (£31 million), beating out the $32,222,222 (£24 million) bid submitted by Eddie Hearn's Matchroom. Warren's bid was reported to be the highest successful purse bid in boxing history.^[7][8] Fury reacted to the news, stating on social media that he is "coming home", suggesting that the fight against Whyte will be the first time he will box on U.K. soil since his August 2018 win against Francesco Pianeta.^[9] On 25 February 2022, it was officially announced that the fight would be taking place at Wembley Stadium in London, England on 23 April.^[2]

The first press conference for the fight took place on 1 March at Wembley Stadium, with Whyte absent. Whyte's lawyer stated that his client would not be partaking in promoting the fight, as "we still do not have things resolved". Despite his opponent's non-attendance, Fury as usual was "in full showman mode", declaring, "Even Tyson Fury versus his own shadow sells", and promising that the fight "is going to be a Ferrari racing a Vauxhall Corsa". When asked about Whyte's no-show, Fury opined, "He's definitely shown the white flag in my estimation." In addition, he stated that his bout against Whyte would be the final fight of his professional career, promising to retire after the fight: "I'm a two-time undisputed world champion. [I have] £150m in the bank and nothing to prove to anybody."^[10]

Tickets for the fight went on sale on 2 March. 85,000 of the 90,000 available tickets were sold within the first 3 hours, prompting Fury's promoter Frank Warren to begin the process of applying to the local authorities to expand the capacity to 100,000 fans, which would make Fury-Whyte the largest post-war boxing attendance in the history of the United Kingdom.^[11][12]

The fight

Whyte boxed the first round in the southpaw stance, which was unusual for the primarily orthodox fighter. At the start of the second round Fury switched between the southpaw and orthodox stances. The champion found success with the jab and check hook. In the fourth round, Whyte was cut over his right eye after a clash of heads. Fury continued to dominate the fight, landing a straight right in the fifth round which appeared to momentarily stun the challenger. With around ten seconds left of the sixth round, Fury landed a left jab, followed by a right uppercut which sent Whyte sprawling to the canvas. Although Whyte was able to beat the count and rise to his feet, the referee deemed it unsafe for him to continue, halting the fight after two minutes and fifty-nine seconds of the sixth round, declaring Fury the winner by sixth-round technical knockout.^[13][14] At the time of the stoppage, Whyte was behind on the judges' scorecards with 49–46, 48–47, and 50–45.^[15][16]

Aftermath

Fury announced his retirement on 12 August 2022 and relinquished the Ring title.^[17] This lasted until 20 October 2022, when it was announced that Fury would return to defend his WBC title against Derek Chisora in a trilogy bout on 3 December at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.^[18]

Fight card

Confirmed bouts:^[19]

Weight Class		vs.		Method	Round	Time	Notes
Heavyweight	Tyson Fury (c)	def.	Dillian Whyte (ic)	TKO	6 (12)	2:59	Note 1
Welterweight	Ekow Essuman (c)	def.	Darren Tetley	UD	12		Replacement[20]Note 2
Featherweight	Nick Ball	def.	Isaac Lowe	TKO	6 (10)	1:45	Note 3
Heavyweight	David Adeleye	def.	Chris Healey	TKO	4 (8)	0:52
Light Heavyweight	Tommy Fury	def.	Daniel Bocianski	PTS	6
Light Heavyweight	Karol Itauma	def.	Michal Ciach	TKO	2 (4)	2:27
Super Featherweight	Kurt Walker	def.	Stefan Nicolae	PTS	4
Super Featherweight	Royston Barney-Smith	def.	Konstantin Radoi	PTS	4

^Note 1 For WBC and The Ring heavyweight titles
^Note 2 For BBBofC British, CBC Commonwealth, and IBF European welterweight titles
^Note 3 For vacant WBC Silver Featherweight title

Broadcasting

Country/Region	Free-to-air	Cable/Satellite	Pay-per-view	Stream
United Kingdom (Host)	—		BT Sport Box Office
Ireland
United States	—		ESPN PPV	ESPN+
Canada	—		Rogers Ignite TV	—
Japan	—	Wowow[21]	—	Wowow
Kazakhstan	Qazsport	—	—	—
Australia	—		Stan Event PPV
New Zealand	—		Sky Arena PPV
Belgium	—	VOO Sports World Chaîne 30	—	VOO Sports World
Bulgaria	—	Max Sport 2	—
Croatia	—	Arena Sport 2[22]	—	Arena Sport 2
France	—	RMC Sport	—	—
Slovakia	—	Dajto	—	Voyo
Spain	—	—	—	Eurosport Player
Sweden	—		Viaplay PPV
Finland
Norway
Denmark
Netherlands
Poland
Germany	Bild TV[23]	—		Bild+
Greece	—	Cosmote Sport 8	—	Cosmote Sport 8
Ukraine	—	Setanta Sports	—	MEGOGO
Indonesia	O Channel	Champions TV	—	Vidio
Italy	—			Mola[24]
Kosovo	—	RTK	—
Portugal	—	Sport TV 6	—
Romania				Voyo
Turkey	—			S Sport +
South Africa	—	SuperSport Grandstand SS Action SS Maximo	—	SuperSport Grandstand SS Action SS Maximo
Nigeria
ROA (Anglophone Africa)
ROA (Lusophone Africa)
Latin America	—	ESPN Knockout	—

Notes

1. Listed by BoxRec as orthodox, but regularly switch hits as a southpaw.

References

1. "Tyson Fury vs. Dillian Whyte". boxrec.com. BoxRec. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
2. "Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte to fight at Wembley Stadium on April 23 for WBC heavyweight championship". Sky Sports. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
3. "Tyson Fury KO 11 Deontay Wilder is The Ring Fight of the Year for 2021". The Ring. 29 December 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
4. "Dillian Whyte 'devastated' by cancellation of Otto Wallin fight after British heavyweight suffers shoulder injury". Sky Sports. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
5. Donovan, Jake (30 December 2021). "Fury-Whyte Heads To January 11 Purse Bid; WBC Sets 80/20 Split". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
6. "Joshua step-aside talks break down". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
7. "Warren wins Fury v Whyte purse bids". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
8. "Tyson Fury to fight Dillian Whyte in WBC heavyweight championship fight". Sky Sports. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
9. Fury, Tyson (28 January 2022). "BIG GK IS COMING HOME! UK BABY!". Twitter. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
10. "Fury says he will retire in April". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
11. "Fury vs Whyte sells 85k tickets in three hours - now they plan to make it a UK record". talkSPORT. 3 March 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
12. "Fury vs. Whyte sold 85,000 tickets in just 3 hours". 3 March 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
13. "Record-setting night cements Tyson Fury's heavyweight legacy". ESPN.com. 23 April 2022. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
14. "Tyson Fury KOs Dillian Whyte with huge uppercut to retain heavyweight title". talkSPORT. 23 April 2022. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
15. "Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte scorecards revealed, one judge's score is questioned". 25 April 2022.
16. "Tyson Fury stops Dillian Whyte to retain his WBC world heavyweight title". Guardian. 23 April 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
17. "Fury vacates Ring heavyweight title". ESPN.com. 14 August 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
18. "Tyson Fury confirms fight against Derek Chisora at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on December 3". Sky Sports. 20 October 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
19. "BoxRec - event".
20. Newman, Rowan (20 April 2022). "Bradford boxer's title fight to now feature on huge Fury-Whyte card at Wembley Stadium". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
21. "生中継！エキサイトマッチＳＰ「フューリーvsホワイト」". wod.wowow.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 5 April 2022.
22. "Večeras se bore Tyson Fury i Dillian Whyte. Evo kad kreću, gdje gledati i tko je favorit". 24sata.hr. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
23. Wer zeigt / überträgt Tyson Fury vs. Dillian Whyte live im TV und Livestream? on spox.com (in German). Retrieved on April 21, 2022.
24. "Tyson Fury vs Dillan Whyte: domani in esclusiva gratuita su Mola Italia". Sport in TV (in Italian). 22 April 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2022.

Preceded by vs. Deontay Wilder III	Tyson Fury' bouts 23 April 2022	Succeeded by vs. Derek Chisora III
Preceded by vs. Alexander Povetkin II	Dillian Whyte's bouts 23 April 2022	Succeeded by vs. Jermaine Franklin