Tyson Fury is planning to fight Dillian Whyte at his heaviest ever weight, and says he will enter the ring “like a man mountain” when the pair finally come face to face.
In Las Vegas for his third match against Deontay Wilder last year, Fury reached a career-high weight of 19 stone, eight pounds, and defeated his opponent in one of the most sensational bouts in the history of heavyweight boxing.
That put the pair’s long-running feud to bed, but a plan for Fury to face Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia was compromised by the latter’s defeat by Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk in north London last autumn. That meant an automatic rematch clause was triggered and despite Fury’s team making significant financial offers to Joshua for him to step aside, he refused to do so.
The WBC installed Whyte as the mandatory challenger to Fury, and after controversy over the split of the fight purse, a deal was agreed for the pair to fight at Wembley Stadium on 23 April.
Now Fury says he feels he benefited from increasing his weight in recent fights and is aiming to do so again before facing Whyte, in a bout he is considered the strong favourite to win.
“I’m gonna try and come in at my heaviest weight of all time,” Fury was quoted as saying by Boxing Scene. “For the biggest fight and the biggest crowd, you’re gonna see the biggest Tyson Fury. I’m gonna come in like a man mountain.”
“What was my biggest weight?” Fury asked reporters. “Can anyone tell me? I think it was like 19 stone, 11 [pounds], was it? Nineteen stone, 10 [pounds]. I’m gonna come in heavier than 19 stone, 10 [pounds]. I’m gonna be the heaviest world champion ever.”
The heaviest champion in boxing history is Russian Nikolai Valuev, who held the WBA title twice between 2005 and 2009 and weighed a whopping 23 stone, one pound when he defeated John Ruiz in Berlin, 17 years ago.
Fury has not fought in the United Kingdom since 2018, and a crowd of up to 100,000 is expected to attend the London fight with Whyte.
