Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte were forced to hold back members of their teams as a cordial pre-fight press conference ended in heated fashion on Wednesday.
Fury defends the WBC heavyweight title against fellow Briton Whyte on Saturday night at Wembley Stadium, where the final pre-fight press conference took place.
Whyte skipped last month’s first press conference and elected to forego this Tuesday’s open workouts, but the challenger was present on Wednesday to go face-to-face with Fury for the first time since their title clash was announced.
While proceedings were surprisingly cordial, with each fighter paying respect to the other, the event ended with Fury’s father John and a member of Whyte’s team being held back as they shouted at one another.
Prior to the heated exchange, Fury had said: “Four years away [since fighting in the UK], and now I’m fighting my old pal Dillian Whyte in England for all the glory, all the belts.
“I didn’t think, probably he didn’t think we’d be doing 94,000 people.
“There was Mr Golden B******s [Anthony Joshua], he got stopped by a middleweight [Oleksandr Usyk]. Where’s he now?”
Playing down the heavyweights’ knowledge of one another’s styles from their time sparring together in the past, Fury added: “Sparring is sparring. Dillian came in and did his job, helping me prepare for a fight. It’s not about: ‘He beat me up in a spar, I beat him up in a spar.’
“We were friends, we went out for a drink, we ate together, we slept together.”
Whyte was quick to interject with a laugh: “We didn’t sleep together, bro! We slept in the same vicinity, but we didn’t sleep together!”
The 34-year-old continued: “It means everything to me to fight in my home country and for the world title, especially at Wembley – it’s not too far from where I’m from.
“Like Tyson said, we didn’t expect to be here – me especially. But I’m ready to go. You ain’t gonna hear no bulls*** from me, I’m ready to rock and roll.”
On missing the first press conference, Whyte said: “I ain’t scared of s***, I ain’t hiding from s***. Stuff needed to get done; obviously the fight was signed but stuff needed to get done.”
Discussing what it will take for him to dethrone the unbeaten Fury, 33, Whyte explained: “This fight’s all about being able to adapt and make decisions quickly.
“Tyson Fury says one thing and does another. He might decide he wants to box or wants to fight. I’m not gonna envision me chasing him or him chasing me, I’m just gonna envision me being able to adapt and make the decision quickly when I need to make it.”
Fury (31-0-1, 22 knockouts), last fought in October, stopping Deontay Wilder for the second fight in a row to retain the WBC belt that he took from the American in 2020.
The pair had previously contested a controversial split draw in 2018, which saw Wilder retain the title before losing it to Fury via stoppage in their first rematch.
Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs), meanwhile, last boxed in March 2021, knocking out Alexander Povetkin to avenge his own stoppage loss to the Russian.
