Dillian Whyte waited years as the “Next Man Up” for the WBC heavyweight championship. Whyte’s chance finally came on Saturday night in London and the dream chance turned into a nightmare as he was poorly outbid by Tyson Fury before being KO’d by a heavy uppercut in the closing seconds of round six.
Whyte tried to mess up his game from the jump and came out in a southpaw position. The tactic didn’t seem to bother Fury much as the champion fought his ideal game plan, sticking to the outside and mixing jabs and left hooks with solid body work.
As Fury’s dominance increased, Whyte seemed to grow frustrated, leading to several clinches involving heads banging and elbow and rabbit punches being thrown. The referee lost control of action in Round 4 when the two heavyweights refused to listen to his break orders.
As the action shifted back to something resembling a boxing match, Fury immediately regained control with his range advantage, forcing Whyte to create more close-range chances.
The rage jab would eventually set the final moment in Round 6 as he followed up a jab with a right uppercut that stunned Whyte and sent him crashing to the canvas. Whyte hit the count, but when he tried to go to the referee his balance was still off and he stumbled onto the ropes, leaving the referee with no choice but to stop the fight at 2:59 of Round 6.
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“Listen, Dillian Whyte is a warrior,” Fury said after the fight. “I think he will be world champion. But I’m one of the greatest heavyweights of all time and unfortunately for Dillian he had to face me here tonight.”
The uppercut was similar to the shot from Alexander Povetkin that put Whyte to sleep in their 2020 contest. Whyte would come back to avenge that loss but he likely won’t get that opportunity as Fury’s next move would likely be a four-belt unification fight – or the retirement, which he promised again after the fight.
“You know, I promised my lovely wife that this fight would be after the Wilder 3 fight and I meant it,” Fury said. “But I was offered to fight at home at Wembley and felt I deserved it and owed it [to the fans]. Now everything is ready. I have to be a man of my word and I think it is. This could be the last curtain of the Gypsy King.”
Elsewhere on the map, Ekow Essuman took care of business against Darren Tetley to earn a unanimous decision win. Nick Ball knocked out Isaac Lowe before the referee came in to end the contest in the sixth round. And Fury’s half-brother Tommy returned to action to handle Daniel Bocianski through the six-round referee’s decision.
CBS Sports was with you all the way on Saturday night, so be sure to follow the live scores and highlights below.
Fury vs. Whyte fight map, results
- Tyson Fury (c) defeated. Dillian Whyte via TKO in the sixth round
- Ekow Essuman defeated. Darren Tetley by unanimous decision (117-111, 116-112, 116-112)
- Defeated Nick Ball. Isaac Lowe via TKO in the sixth round
- Defeated David Adeleye. Chris Healey via TKO from the fourth round
- Defeated Tommy Fury. Daniel Bocianski by referee decision (60-54)
Fury vs Whyte Scorecard, live coverage
| anger (c) | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | TKO | 50 | ||||||
| why | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 45 |