Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte will fight at Wembley Stadium on April 23 for the WBC heavyweight championship; both fighters finally signed their contracts for the bout last week after protracted negotiations
Tuesday 1 March 2022 15:39, UK
Dillian Whyte was absent from Tuesday's ticket launch event ahead of his fight with Tyson Fury.
Whyte opted to remain at his training camp in Portugal as he prepares for the WBC heavyweight title fight against Fury at Wembley on April 23.
Fury addressed the media in London on Tuesday ahead of the upcoming clash with his British rival.
Last week the heavyweight duo narrowly beat a deadline to sign their contracts for the highly anticipated bout, which will see Fury fight in England for the first time since 2018.
Whyte, who holds the WBC interim title after a rematch win over Alexander Povetkin, will challenge Fury for the right to become WBC heavyweight champion.
The Brixton man secured his WBC mandatory title shot after knocking out Povetkin in the fourth round last March, while Fury retained his WBC belt with an 11th-round knockout of Deontay Wilder in October.
Whyte had previously told Sky Sports that he was not concerned about the date and venue of the Fury fight: "Wherever they want the fight, whenever they want the fight, I don't care.
"I've been trying to fight him for a long time. I've been ready to fight him for a long time. I just want to fight him for the world title now."
Following confirmation the fight had been made, Fury posted a video on Instagram promising to give Whyte maximum respect in his preparations for the bout.
"I'm about to go off social media completely for the next eight and a half weeks," Fury said. "Going to go into training camp to give Dillian Whyte all the respect in the world that he needs.
"I'll never underestimate anybody in my life and I'll give this man all the respect he deserves coming in as the number one ranked WBC heavyweight challenger in the world today."
