Just days after being floored by arguably the best punch of Tyson Fury’s career, Dillian Whyte has cried foul over the world champion’s “dirty tactics”.
A vicious uppercut in the sixth round, that knocked out Whyte’s tooth, put an end to proceedings but the challenger said he felt wronged by the referee, who he believes should have penalised Fury for shoving him before his head hit the canvas following the decisive punch.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Whyte said he should have been given extra time to recover because of the push.
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“I was buzzed but obviously I was trying to regather my senses and he proper pushed me and I fell over and hit my head on the canvas which is illegal,” Whyte said.
“This isn’t wrestling, this is boxing. I should have been allowed extra time to recover and then carried on fighting.
“I got caught, no doubt about it. I got caught by a good shot. I went for the left uppercut, he went for the right uppercut. He’s a bit taller than me, so obviously he landed his at range. I was hurt, I was trying to get my senses together and he full on, two-handed pushed me. It wasn’t like a one-armed thing.
“Terrible job from the referee there, but it is, what it is.
“I should have had time to recover, time to go back to my corner, but Tyson Fury gets away with a lot of things.
“He said he would retire. I hope he doesn’t retire, because I want another go.
“He said ‘you’re a good fighter, a true warrior, you’re going to be a world champion’. I’m not a sore loser. You win some, you lose some, this is life.”
Both fighters were guilty of questionable tactics throughout the fight, with Fury’s camp taking exception to what it described as elbows and punches to the back of the head.
Whyte in turn accused the world champion of headbutting, with the Brixton heavyweight sporting a huge cut from the fourth round.
“He kept on leaning down to the side and putting the head in and stuff like that,” revealed Whyte.
“He leans down and he put the head in, he clashed with me and I got the cut and obviously the ref started telling me off.
“I was like, ‘what the hell is going on here? I got head butted.’
“The fight spiralled a bit, until he started punching me in the back of the head. I started doing it to him and then his corner started throwing water and stuff like that, which was a bit crazy.
“I kept on getting all the blame. He was the one that was holding, he was the one that was headbutting and being dirty in the fight.”
Despite the knockout, Whyte vowed to return to the ring and remains confident he can force his way into another world title shot.
“I wasn’t outclassed. I landed my fair bit of leather,” he said.
“It’s not a long, hard road back, because I’ve showed the level I am. We sold 90 something thousand tickets together. It’s not him alone or me alone. I added value going in before. I’ve had loads of pay-per-view fights, they have all sold out, they have all been good fights.
“I’m still there, I’m still good enough. One fight and I’m back!”
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