Tyson Fury and his wife Paris both felt that Dillian Whyte looked nervous ahead of his maiden world title fight back in April.
The Jamaican-born London heavyweight had earned his spot as the WBC's mandatory challenger years prior, and won it back last year from Alexander Povetkin in Gibraltar. But he was handily dealt with by Fury over six rounds, before the champion stopped him with a right uppercut.
Whyte has since protested the stoppage, saying that he was pushed before hitting the ground, which led to him taking more damage to the back of the head. And he feels that he should have been given more than the standard 10 count as a result of Fury's rule infraction.
But prior to the event even starting, Fury felt that his rival was looking anxious as he set up for not only his biggest fight, but one of the most notable British boxing matches of all time. In footage taken by BT Sport Boxing for their 'No Filter' documentary, the couple can be seen backstage noting their mutual feeling about Whyte.
"He looks nervous," Paris can be heard saying off camera, before Tyson adds: "He does look nervous, I was just thinking that, welcome to big time boxing, mush!"
In further footage, the disparity between that sense of nervousness in the Whyte camp and Fury's generally relaxed nature can be seen just seconds before the ring walk. As a promo package is airing for his walk to the Wembley crowd, the champion is seen singing along to Don McLean's American Pie with his team in the tunnel.
Fury has now retired from boxing, although a decision has yet to be made about the status of his WBC world title. Having just defeated Whyte, he wouldn't be due to face another mandatory challenger for another year, while the other belts are being fought for by Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk on July 23.
There is a general feeling that Fury's retirement announcement is just bluster, and that he will be back in the ring to fight for the undisputed gold. But the Brit insists that he is for real, and only remains training to stay fit after suffering from mental health problems when he ballooned in weight in between 2016 and 2018.
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Fury never lost the unified WBA, WBO and IBF belts that he won from Wladimir Klitschko in 2015, and prior to winning the WBC title from Wilder, he was often promoted as the 'lineal champion'. When the titles were all taken from him due to issues outside of the ring, Joshua went on to become unified champion twice, losing them on separate occasions to Andy Ruiz Jr and later Usyk.
His own promoter Bob Arum also feels that he could make a u-turn on his decision to hang up the gloves, saying that the outcome of Usyk and Joshua's rematch could sway him to make a comeback. "I think Tyson Fury is going to wait to see how the Anthony Joshua fight comes out with Oleksandr Usyk," he told Fight Hype.
"Then he'll make a determination whether he wants to continue. Other than fighting the winner of Usyk vs Joshua, there's nothing really of interest to Fury."
