Tyson Fury is expected to come face-to-face with Dillian Whyte today ahead of their WBC heavyweight title fight at Wembley Stadium this weekend.
His appearance is not guaranteed, however, because when it comes to this fight, nothing feels that certain.
Whyte was missing from yesterday’s open workout at BOXPARK Wembley, just as he was from the press conference to announce the promotion.
News filtered through during the workout that Whyte would not be able to make it, as he had just arrived at Luton Airport from his training base in Portugal.
Mixed news, then. At least Whyte arriving in the country was the biggest indication yet he will be in the ring on Saturday night. Not that Fury has looked flustered by Whyte’s absence during the build-up to the all-British heavyweight fight.
It is difficult to read anything into what goes on at public workouts, which are usually nothing more than an exercise in waving to fans and posing for pictures. But what stuck out at yesterday’s event was that Fury spent the rounds he did on the pads with trainer, SugarHill Steward, as a southpaw.
Fury has boxed as a southpaw before, notably in his 2012 fight with Martin Rogan and second win over Derek Chisora two years later. It was effective if rather dull, with both opponents struggling to lay a glove on him.
Steward admitted it was up to Fury what he would do on fight night. “He’s adaptable,” the American trainer said. “He might fight him southpaw or orthodox. He could even stand square on and box him.”
Fury loves his mind games and boxing for a few minutes in public as a left-hander might just be a way of unsettling Whyte’s own gameplan, even though the champion made a convincing case for doing it on Saturday.
“I might switch,” Fury said. “I think Dillian Whyte is very susceptible to a southpaw. He hasn’t fought many. It takes away his left hook. That is his number one punch.”
Whether or not Whyte (left) was in the building yesterday, Fury knew he would face questions about his association with Daniel Kinahan, who is accused of being in charge of an international drug-smuggling group and had a $5million (£3.85m) bounty placed on him.
That was the same Daniel Kinahan whom Fury credited as having brokered a deal to fight Anthony Joshua, which fell through after Joshua was beaten by Oleksandr Usyk last year; the same Daniel Kinahan who was co-founder of MTK Global, which lists Fury as its biggest client; the same Daniel Kinahan who Fury was pictured with in Dubai a matter of weeks ago.
Promoter Frank Warren insists Kinahan had no involvement with Saturday’s fight, while Fury said that Kinahan’s problems had nothing to do with him.
“A picture doesn’t mean I am a criminal?” he said. “I can’t control who is in the building. There could be a criminal in this building now. It doesn’t mean I am involved in his criminal activity, does it?
“I’ve got my own troubles to look after, with six kids and a wife nagging me to death for not being at home to help with the kids. I’ve got a man who wants to punch my face in next week. Anything else is out of my control.”
While 94,000 tickets for the fight have been sold, for Warren, who has the job of promoting it for broadcast on BT Box Office, Whyte’s non-appearance at another event was disappointing.
“What am I going to do, smack his a*** and make him stand in the corner?” Warren said. “Unfortunately, he is not here. Thankfully I have the most colourful heavyweight since Muhammad Ali.”
After the bad feeling that had built up between the two camps, today’s press conference was expected to be lively — if Whyte was there.
