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The weights are in for tomorrow night’s huge, 94,000 sell-out heavyweight title clash between Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte, and both men looked in great physical shape as they stepped onto the scale. Fury, surprising some people, tipped-in at a light (for him) 264 pounds, this some 13 pounds less than the WBC heavyweight champ weighed last time out, for his third and final battle with Deontay Wilder.
Whyte, looking solid as a wall, scaled 253, which is a little bit heavy for him, yet the challenger is in shape, of that there seems to be zero doubt. It was very much a pro-Fury crowd at today’s weigh-in in London, with Fury getting the cheers, Whyte the boos. Both men are pumped up and are motivated for tomorrow’s Wembley clash.
Fury, who we know says a lot of things lots of times, said before the Whyte fight that he may come in heavier than ever before. Instead, Fury has come in somewhat light. Does this mean Fury will look to box and move, not go right at Whyte and try to bully him? Maybe. Whyte will possibly take some shifting in there, as rock-solid as he appeared today. Whyte may have bulked up because he is expecting – maybe hoping – Fury will come and have an in-the-trenches style fight with him, not a boxing match.
Whyte cannot outbox Fury, so his best chance, plenty of us think anyway, will come if Fury is willing to accommodate him in a physical battle. Both men have their game plan, or game plans, all set and both guys have obviously done the hard work in the gym. There is a good deal of mutual respect between the two men, as shown again today, with the champ and the challenger shaking hands and even exchanging caps.
But, as the saying goes, the respect will go out of the window tomorrow night when the bell rings. Both men are predicting a war, as is promoter Frank Warren. But looking at Fury’s weight, we can likely expect to see some boxing and some moving from “The Gypsy King.”
Fury says it will be his last fight, but not too many people seem to believe him. If the Whyte fight is his swansong, does Fury go out a winner?
It’s hard to pick against Fury, as good/great as he is. Whyte will give it his all, and he does have that left hook and a nothing to lose attitude, but Fury will have too much for him. Look for Fury to box Whyte early, then come down off his toes and punish a game Whyte late. Fury by 10th round TKO victory.
