Can Dillian Whyte really dethrone Tyson Fury as the best Heavyweight in the world?

It’s fair to say that Dillian Whyte has always been the bridesmaid, never the bride of British heavyweight boxing. For years, he’s danced in the shadows while Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury basked in the limelight.

However, the door of opportunity has now swung open, and Whyte is getting a crack at arguably the best heavyweight on the planet - Tyson Fury. This has set the best betting sites on njxgaming.com into a frenzy as they price up the odds for the all-British clash that’s due to take place on the 23rd of April at Wembley Stadium.

How did we get here?

For what seems like an eternity, the only all-British heavyweight bout fight fans talked about was AJ versus the Gypsy King - Tyson Fury.

In fact, Whyte appeared to have blown his slender chances of ever facing one of the biggest names in the division when he was dramatically knocked out by Alexander Povetkin in the 5th round of their fight in August 2020. Along with the KO, Whyte lost his interim WBC title and his mandatory position as the number one challenger to face Fury, who holds the official WBC belt.

However, Whyte got an immediate rematch, which took place in Gibraltar in March 2021. This time, he won by technical knockout in the 4th round, and thus reclaimed the interim title, and with it, the chance of taking on Fury.

The Path Clears

Leading up to September 2021, the buzz was around Joshua vs Fury. Both men had fights coming up, but if they came through those, then a British blockbuster with all four belts on the line was going to happen.

Oleksander Usyk threw a spanner in the works with a clinical unanimous points win over Anthony Joshua on the 25th of September. Two weeks later, it was Wilder vs Fury 3, which Tyson won with a devastating 11th round knockout.

The super-fight had gone up in smoke. AJ had a rematch clause in his bout with Usyk, so the question was, will he enact this clause or step aside and let Usyk and Fury fight? After several discussions, no agreement could be reached between the various camps and promoters. Suddenly, after so long, the path cleared for Dillian to get his shot.

Can Whyte Dethrone the Gypsy King?

Getting a shot at the title is one thing, but now Dillian Whyte has the titanic task of dethroning quite possibly the best heavyweight of his generation - Tyson Fury.

Fury is a larger-than-life character, and his rise, fall (outside of the ring from depression, alcohol and drug abuse), and rise again has been well-documented. Since returning to the ring after his illness, Fury has fought Deontay Wilder three times - and in many people’s eyes, he’s beaten Wilder thrice, although the judges said the first bout was a draw.

That begs the question, what can Dillian Whyte bring to the ring that will scare Fury? For sure, Whyte has some power punches in his arsenal, but the Bronze Bomber was thought to be the division’s hardest hitter, and Fury has cleaned his clock in the last two fights. That’s not to say Fury wasn’t wobbled a time or two in the third fight. He clearly was, but not enough to cause concern.

If you compare pure boxing skills and fight IQ, again Fury comes out on top. There simply doesn’t appear to be a metric available that gives Whyte an advantage over his opponent.

But this is heavyweight boxing, and upsets can (and do) happen. No one fancied Buster Douglas to stun the world when he dethroned Iron Mike back in 1990. Not meaning to sound disrespectful to Dillian Whyte but his best chance of winning is if Fury doesn’t take the fight seriously. If he underestimates the challenge of Whyte, then you never know - the world might be shocked again.