Tyson Fury’s trainer Sugarhill Steward has opened up on the WBC heavyweight champion’s gameplan ahead of his upcoming title defence against Dillian Whyte.
Fury (31-0-1, 22 knockouts) will go head-to-head with his fellow Briton at Wembley Stadium on 23 April, with the champion entering the bout on the back of two straight stoppages of Deontay Wilder.
Meanwhile, Whyte’s last fight saw him knock out Alexander Povetkin to avenge his own stoppage loss to the Russian.
“We’ve seen Dillian Whyte’s punching power over the years, he’s no different than these other heavyweights are,” Steward told Boyle Sports.
“Everybody has a chance in the heavyweight division, that’s why it’s the most exciting division. Everybody wants one heavyweight to hit the other heavyweight and them to go down. That’s it, that’s what the heavyweight division brings. That’s what the heavyweight division is about: It’s about that one-punch knockout at any given time, it can happen.
“Yeah, Dillian Whyte has a chance. He can punch, he’s a tremendous puncher. He’s almost got as many knockouts as Tyson Fury. The only real difference if I’m really being honest is Tyson Fury is the knockout king. He dethroned the previous knockout king [Wilder], so that makes Tyson legitimately the knockout king.
“He’s the big puncher in boxing now, the same way he dethroned Wladimir Klitschko, he dethroned Deontay Wilder by knocking him out – giving him a taste of his own medicine – twice. That makes Tyson legitimately, factually the biggest puncher in boxing. You can’t become the biggest puncher in boxing if you don’t take out the bigger puncher.”
Fury will again look for a knockout when he faces Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs), according to Steward, who joined the “Gypsy King”’s team ahead of the 33-year-old’s second fight against Wilder.
“We're going for the knockout, get that knockout every time,” the American said. “First round, second, third, fourth, fifth, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 and 12. Every round, every moment we’ll be looking for the knockout, looking for that knockout punch, looking to make the guy make the mistake – and when he makes the mistake, we’re going to catch him.
“That’s the whole idea wrapped up in one. There’s judges and everything, but why do we want to use judges when there’s two men in there who can decide this fight on their own? There’s an old saying: If you want something done right, do it yourself.”
