Tyson Fury stepped in to calm down his dad John during his face-off with Dillian Whyte as tempers boiled over on stage.
Fury and Whyte came face to face at their press conference for the first time ahead of their heavyweight world title fight at Wembley on Saturday. The domestic rivals were respectful to each other when discussing the fight and they concluded the conference with an uneventful staredown.
After posing for pictures, Fury and Whyte prepared to face off with each other while John looked frustrated with a member of Whyte's team. The 57-year-old appeared to exchange words with Whyte's so-called brother Dean whilst Fury faced off with Whyte.
Fury then prevented his dad from getting any closer to Whyte's team as an argument broke out. Whyte urged his entourage to move away, as did Fury, to prevent the situation from escalating. The pair then faced off again and shook hands after cooler heads prevailed.
Whyte was critical of John after the incident and said the event should have been about his son, not him. "Tyson Fury's dad needs to relax. My man is 600 years old and stepping forward, trying not to let my guys on the stage," he said.
"I said 'John calm down you're an adult, you keep screaming and shouting like a child this is me and Tyson's day, why are you getting involved, this is me and your son's day, take it easy'. John was trying to start something, he wants to rob the fans of a fight, he's a real idiot."
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John was critical of the way Whyte handled himself in the build-up to the fight as the challenger refused to promote the bout and attend the first press conference. Whyte wasn't in attendance for the open workouts on Tuesday because of a late flight from Portugal.
Fury admitted that had he not held his dad back, a brawl could have broke out between the two teams. "I prevented a big ruckus on stage. Everyone wants to see screaming and shouting, but let the two boxers do the fight and enjoy it," he said.
"It's not for entourages to get involved, I had to be professional, step back and let me get on with it. The man's getting paid to do his job and so am I. People are here for a real fight, we don't need to scream and shout."
