Dillian Whyte believes the referee did a ‘terrible job’ with the conclusion of his fight against Tyson Fury on Saturday.
The Gypsy King retained his WBC heavyweight title with a sixth round knockout of Whyte that came as a result of a fearsome uppercut with one second to go in the round.
Fury floored Whyte with a sixth round uppercut
Whyte attempted to climb to his feet and the referee looked to give him a chance to continue, but once he staggered on his feet, the official called an end to the fight.
After landing the shot, Fury did appear to push Whyte and The Body Snatcher says hitting his head on the canvas is what really stunned him.
“When the uppercut landed I was buzzed, obviously,” Whyte told Sky Sports. “I was trying to regather my senses and then he proper pushed me like that [gestures push] and then I fell over and hit my head on the canvas, which is illegal. This isn’t wrestling, this is boxing.”
Whyte says he should have been allowed extra time to recover in his corner after he was thrown to the ground. It also would have guaranteed he made it out for the seventh round with such little time left.
In fairness to Whyte, it does look like a push follows the punch
“As usual, they let Fury do what he wants and get away with it. I should have been allowed extra time to recover and then carry on fighting. And then he pushed me and then he said to the referee ‘don’t let the fight carry on’ like the referee isn’t doing his job. How can someone… OK, I got caught. No doubt about that. Good shot,” Whyte explained.
“I went for the left uppercut, he went for the right uppercut, he’s a bit taller than me so obviously he landed his at range.
“I was hurt, I didn’t go straight down, I was hurt and trying to regather my senses and then he full-on two-handed pushed me. It wasn’t a one-arm thing. He pushed me over and I hit my head. Terrible job from the referee there, but it is what it is.
“I should have had time to recover and go back to my corner, but, I don’t know. Tyson Fury gets away with a lot of things. He says he’s going to retire but I hope he doesn’t retire because I want another go.”
Fury screamed that Whyte should not be allowed to continue
Fury has said he will be retiring from boxing and, presumably, will be vacating the WBC heavyweight title as a result. If he holds onto it to see what the outcome of the Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua rematch is, there could be hope he competes for the undisputed title later this year.
Whyte says Fury did tell him he will be a world champion one day after the fight and Whyte also said in the interview that he is in good shape with a lot of gas left in the tank to make that a reality.