"If Deontay Wilder had pushed me like that, it would have been crazy."
Thursday 20 February 2020 19:01, UK
Dillian Whyte warned Deontay Wilder not to repeat his 'pantomime' push as he traded more heated words with the WBC heavyweight champion.
Wilder defends his WBC belt in a Las Vegas rematch this weekend against Tyson Fury, who he pushed during Wednesday's press conference, but Wilder has directed a fresh verbal attack at Whyte, his WBC mandatory challenger.
The Brixton man is preparing for an expected fight with Alexander Povetkin and he angrily denied claims by the American that he did not want to fight either Luiz Ortiz or Dominic Breazeale.
"I keep saying, time and time again, I've offered to fight both Ortiz and Breazeale multiple times," Whyte told Sky Sports.
"Ortiz turned them all down, like he turned down the Joshua fight. Secondly, aside from a number of other attempts to make a fight with him voluntarily, Dominic Breazeale and I got mandated to fight, I accepted the fight. We had a date for the fight and then the WBC pulled Breazeale out to fight Deontay Wilder, because Tyson Fury didn't want the fight. How was I refusing to fight Breazeale?
"He's been cherry-picking easy voluntary opponents for years and years. Povetkin is better than Luiz Ortiz. Povetkin is an Olympic gold medallist, a former world champion, and he's only lost to Klitschko and AJ. Luis Ortiz is a nobody who has beaten nobody.
"Parker, Rivas and Chisora would all beat Ortiz. It's a smokescreen by Wilder to hide his cowardice and con fight fans."
The WBC has told Whyte that he must wait until February 2021 to receive his WBC mandatory title fight, despite being the WBC's No 1 challenger since 2017.
"Whyte is waiting because he wants to wait," Wilder said to Sky Sports News. "He wants to call out the best fighters but not fight the best fighters.
"His strategy is to fight lower opposition but call out the best.
"I give all fighters the opportunity to fight me. Dillian had multiple chances.
"The WBC ordered him to fight what he called an old man in Luis Ortiz.
"Imagine him fighting a young champion? I'd destroy him."
Wilder and Fury traded shoves on stage at Wednesday's final press conference, but Whyte believes the duo staged their confrontation.
"Deontay Wilder is a good boy, he's not a bad man, he's just a bad actor," said Whyte. "He's not a gangster, no matter how much he pretends. He is the son of a preacher brought up in a loving family with plenty of food on the table.
"Don't get me wrong, he can punch and he can box a little bit, but that's it. I'm not scared of him. I have been chasing Deontay Wilder for the longest of time. I've been fighting top contenders, risking my mandatory position, because I really want to get hold of him and do him some serious damage. I've been chasing and he's been running.
"It was a joke. If it was real, and it was two guys that hated each other and wanted to get each other, you would have security in between them. It's a pantomime, it's made up. It was really pathetic. Deontay Wilder is turning the WBC into WWE.
"Deontay Wilder is a joke, he's a liar and a fraud. If Deontay Wilder had pushed me like that, it would have been crazy. It would have been a mass brawl on the stage.
"If someone pushes you like that, two days before the fight, you have a go, but that's me. Deontay Wilder is not me."
