Tyson Fury has promised to fight training partner and former world heavyweight champion Joseph Parker if Dillian Whyte pulls out of the pair's fight on Saturday night.
Whyte and Fury's team have been at loggerheads over his involvement in the pre-fight promotion of this weekend's event. And despite seeming to come to terms last week with a virtual press conference, the London native skipped an open workout yesterday.
Now Fury is claiming Parker, with whom he has been training for the fight, will be happy to step in and fight him at Wembley Stadium should Whyte skip the fight night itself. It remains to be seen if Whyte will attend the pre-fight press conference, while he would need to attend the weigh-in for the bout to go ahead.
“We always have a standby opponent for these big shows because you never know what will happen," Fury said on iFL TV. “The guy could fall over and break his foot so there’s always gotta be a standby.
“The WBC number three ranked contender Joseph Parker. If Dillian Whyte don’t fight, I don’t want no rookie bum, I want a top-five man. Joseph Parker is the stand-in opponent for the fight. If Dillian Whyte does pull out, I’ll pad Joe for the fight and I’ll fight him."
Fury and Parker are close friends, and have lived together in preparation for this event. But Fury has promised that it would be "all business" in the case that Whyte decides not to fight and the pair are forced to compete.
They have deliberately avoided sparring together in the past, given that they are both top heavyweights and could ultimately be ordered to fight one another, particularly if Fury does a U-turn on his retirement plans and goes for an undisputed fight.
“It’d be an excellent fight," Fury continued. "Joe’s a former world heavyweight champion and highly rated in all the organisations. He’s in the top five heavyweights. So there will be no complaining from the fans.
“If this idiot pulls out then we’ve got a really tasty step-in, don’t you worry about that. We’ve said, ‘Listen, it’s not personal, strictly business.’ If this fight happens we’ve shook hands on it and agreed, then we’re gonna throw down.
Would you be disappointed to see Tyson Fury fight Joseph Parker instead of Dillian Whyte? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that because I want to fight Dillian Whyte, but if it does then we’re professional athletes, we’re professional businessmen. I’m sure whoever wins, we’ll have a beer afterwards. It’s only a boxing match, not personal.”
The New Zealand fighter was world champion with the WBO from December 2016 until March 2018, when he lost the belt to Anthony Joshua. He won the vacant title by beating Andy Ruiz Jr, and even defended it against Fury's cousin Hughie before losing to Joshua, and then Whyte in his next fight out.
But since those two defeats, the only ones of his career, he has gone on a six-fight winning run including two victories over Dereck Chisora and taking the first scalp of Junior Fa's career.
