Promoter Frank Warren feels vindicated after witnessing Dillian Whyte’s huge knockout at the hands of Alexander Povetkin last weekend.
Whyte had previously been pushed as Fury’s WBC mandatory challenger. Both Warren and ‘The Gypsy King’ had no interest in the fight.
Dillian Whyte
Upon seeing ‘The Body Snatcher’ fall badly against the Russian veteran, Warren couldn’t help adding a big dollop of ‘I told you so’.
“Once again the sport of boxing threw up a tale of the unexpected. For many, the weekend was yet another reminder of the danger of taking your eye off the ball in this game of hard knocks.
“Very much like when Anthony Joshua kept talking the talk about Deontay Wilder ahead of what was supposed to be a walkover against Andy Ruiz and then came unstuck, Dillian Whyte spent far too much time keeping Tyson Fury at the forefront of conversations when his focus should have been solely on Alexander Povetkin.
“I’ve got no desire to stick the boot in on a man when he is down. But I have to look at things from the side of our fighters.
“What happened on Saturday is precisely why I was so keen on matching Dillian against Daniel Dubois.
“You didn’t need to study the form too closely to see this coming.
“Dillian was down late against Joseph Parker. The same against Oscar Rivas and now Povetkin. Add those to two massive struggles against Dereck Chisora and then match it to the pedigree of the No.1 in the world, Tyson Fury.
FRANK WARREN – NO APPEAL
“You will realize why the prospect of a WBC mandatory defense against Dillian held no great appeal.
“Especially if it was to delay the fight that everyone wants to see between Tyson and Anthony Joshua,” he added.
Fury is now freed up to face Deontay Wilder in a trilogy before Joshua, provided the latter can shake off WBO mandatory advances from Oleksandr Usyk.
Talk of Usyk facing Povetkin for the WBC interim title has surfaced in the aftermath of the Whyte clash. This would be welcomed by supporters of Fury vs Joshua.
Read more from Frank Warren’s column HERE.