Tyson Fury & Dillian Whyte Media Work Out — Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images

WBC Heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, faces someone other than Deontay Wilder for the first time since 2019 this afternoon (Sat., April 23, 2022), taking on well-traveled countryman, Dillian Whyte, inside the venerable Wembley Stadium in London, England.

“The Body Snatcher” has been chasing this opportunity since initially becoming mandatory challenger in 2017, and with unified champion Oleksandr Usyk closing in on a rematch with Anthony Joshua, the time has finally come for the first world title fight of his decade-long career. Fury, meanwhile, looks to make the second successful defense of his current reign.

The undercard is absolute garbage, so let’s just focus on the fight people are actually here for, shall we?

Tyson “Gypsy King” Fury

Age: 33
Record: 31-0-1 (22 KO)
Last Five Fights: Deontay Wilder (KO-11), Deontay Wilder (TKO-7), Otto Wallin (UD), Tom Schwarz (TKO-2), Deontay Wilder (Split Draw)
Significant Victories (other than those mentioned above): Wladimir Klitschko, Dereck Chisora x2, Steve Cunningham

VS.

Dillian Whyte v Dereck Chisora 2 - Heavyweight Boxing

Dillian “The Body Snatcher” Whyte

Age: 34
Record: 28-2 (19 KO)
Last Five Fights: Alexander Povetkin (TKO-4), Alexander Povetkin (KO-5 Loss), Mariusz Wach (UD), Oscar Rivas (UD), Dereck Chisora (KO-11)
Significant Victories (other than those mentioned above): Joseph Parker, Robert Helenius

THE FIGHT

If Whyte approaches this fight the way he did his recent rematch with Alexander Povetkin, he’s getting absolutely humiliated. Those huge, loaded-up bombs may have been sufficient to put away a quadragenarian recovering from COVID, but they’re not going to land on someone with the length, footwork and general boxing savvy of Fury.

If he has his head on straight? He’ll still lose, but it could be reasonably close.

Whyte honestly has a lot of the traits you want to see in a potential Fury conqueror. He attacks the body better than most of the division, boasts a strong jab and has a remarkably deep gas tank for his size. The tools are there to keep Fury firmly out of cruise control, and though Whyte is nowhere near a Wilder-level, one-punch destroyer, lesser punchers than him have put Fury on his butt before. Whyte’s not likely to fold from damage or frustration either, as he’s powered through his fair share of adversity in his wars with Dereck Chisora.

I just don’t see anything in his game that can carry him past “The Gypsy King’s” blend of light-footed pot-shotting and utterly smothering clinchwork. He can keep Fury uncomfortable, sure, but he’s not winning a long-range battle and he doesn’t have quite enough craft or horsepower to keep Fury off of him if the latter forces him to carry his weight. It takes a lot more than sound boxing to beat Fury, as Wladimir Klitschko learned all those years ago.

Though Fury’s spent the last few years as a finisher, he can turn a fight into an absolutely atrocious slog if the situation calls for it. Whyte will likely take a handful of rounds with his body attack, but he’ll have to settle for the moral victory of dragging Fury back to his spoiling ways.

Prediction: Fury def. Whyte via unanimous decision

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE coverage of tomorrow’s main event right here. The ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV) main card begins at 2 p.m. ET, while Fury and Whyte will make their ring walks around 5 p.m. ET.

For more on “Fury vs. Whyte” and other boxing-related events click here.