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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Donagh Corby

Tyson Fury will demand Dillian Whyte is punished if he "acts up" before fight

Tyson Fury will push for Dillian Whyte to face sanctions with the British Boxing Board of Control should he choose to "act up" ahead of their world heavyweight title fight.

Fury infamously wasn't allowed to face-off with Deontay Wilder ahead of their trilogy bout last October, due to safety concerns in Nevada where the fight was taking place. But he promises there will be no funny business between he and Whyte when they finally go head-to-head in London this week.

The pair haven't met since signing for the mega-money fight night, which will take place in front of 94,000 fans at Wembley Stadium. Whyte opted not to attend the pre-fight press conference over issues with Fury's promoter Frank Warren, and the pair are only going to face-off for the first time later this week at a media event.

"It's all typical boxing stuff," Fury told reporters of the pre-fight face-offs, which have been highly anticipated after Whyte's early promotional no-show. "It's all what do we call it? The old cliche. It's what boxers do, they stand up and get head-to-head, that's what they do.

"It's all 'oh don't look at me,' or 'whoever looks away first is a p****,' you know how it is. Someone shoves someone else or grab them by the throat."

And Fury believes there should be a punishment in place for taking things too far at these events. "I actually think fighters should have a massive sanction put on them by the boards when they start acting up at press conferences and weigh-ins," he continued.

"They're grabbing each other by the throat with no intentions of actually doing anything because they think that's what sells tickets. They think that if I get up at a press conference and grab a guy by the throat lightly then that'll be what sells. Well, that's not what sells.

Do you agree with Tyson Fury's stance on press conference bust-ups? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

Tyson Fury will get a real face-off with Dillian Whyte this week (Getty Images)

"People do this today because they can't talk, they've got zero talking ability and they think that grabbing a guy's t-shirt is going to sell a fight and get a guy interested. It doesn't, it's actually pathetic, let me grab this guy's t-shirt."

Fury is no stranger to shenanigans at media days for his fights, having infamously showed up in ridiculous outfits including a Batman costume and a myriad of wacky suits. He has also competed in the WWE on a number of occasions, but believes that the professional wrestling antics should be left far away from a boxing event.

"Me and SugarHull [Fury's trainer] were talking about this recently," he added. "When someone runs off the stage trying to hit somebody or grab a guy by the throat. It's absolutely ridiculous, it's professional sport and we're all adults here, this isn't kindergarten school children.

"The more i think about it, the more it makes sense for the board of control in different countries to act because I think it's out of order all the childish behaviour around sporting events."

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