By: Sean Crose
All it takes is one punch. It’s something fight fans are told over and over again. It’s also been proven over and over again. On Saturday at Wembley Stadium, however, Tyson Fury made it clear just how true that old adage actually is. An absolute atom bomb of a Fury uppercut put his very game challenger, Dillian Whyte, down and out in front of an audience of close to one hundred thousand people – and who knows how many television and streaming viewers. It was, no doubt, a highlight reel punch, one which will most likely be long remembered.
As Fury made his way towards the ring on a throne mere minutes earlier, he motioned loudly and with physicality to the massive crowd, one had to wonder exactly how Whyte could battle such….ENERGY. The truth is, Whyte didn’t let the moment get the best of him. The man fought hard. Very hard. After the first round, however, it became clear that Fury’s size was a real problem for the veteran challenger.
Whyte tried to make things old school ugly, with elbows, and a few shots behind the head. It didn’t matter. In the sixth, Fury caught him with that howitzer, and that was that. Falling flat on his back, it looked as if Whyte might not beat the count. He did, somehow, but then stumbled when the referee checked to see if he could continue. With that, the referee waved off the bout, leading Fury and the audience of 94,000 to explode in celebration.
“I dedicate this to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” Fury said afterward. “We are Spartans!” he then yelled to the crowd’s explosive approval. Not that Fury didn’t have anything but kind words for his opponent. “Dillian Whyte is a warrior,” he admitted outright. To Fury, the reason for Whyte’s defeat was simple: “He’s a great fighter, but he fought a legend in here tonight.” Still, Fury said his wife had wanted him to quit after his third fight with Deontay Wilder, but fighting in London was simply too golden a proposition. “I have to be a man of me word,” Fury said about now retiring from boxing, “and I think this is it.”
Yet Fury put a cherry on the evening’s sundae when he called over UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. Both men then indicated that they would be squaring off in the future. “It’s going to be a hybrid fight,” said Ngannou, “with different kinds of rules.” An insanely lucrative concept, no doubt. When it comes to Fury, however, one truly never knows what the future holds.