In front of 94,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, Tyson Fury retained his WBC and Lineal heavyweight titles with a stunning sixth round technical knockout of mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte.
Fury won the WBC crown in February 2020, stopping Deontay Wilder in seven rounds and backed that up with an eleventh round knockout win in their trilogy fight last October. Whyte had infamously been waiting well over 1000 days for his shot at the WBC belt, having served as Silver and interim champion, but he suffered a setback in a knockout defeat to Alexander Povetkin in 2020 before knocking the Russian out in a rematch last March in Gibraltar.
After spine tingling ring walks and introductions, it was down to business, and Whyte (28-3, 19 KOs) provided a surprise by coming out as a southpaw, but he struggled to close the distance, and was nailed by a solid right hand in a relatively quiet opener.
‘The Body Snatcher’ reverted back to orthodox to begin the second, with Fury changing to southpaw, and the champion was comfortable with the pace, landing regularly with his jab, and taking advantage of the slow movement of Whyte to capitalise.
The third saw more of the same, and at the start of the fourth, ‘The Gypsy King’ landed with a right hand, and a cut appeared on Whyte’s right eye, as his difficult start to the contest continued.
The referee was forced to intervene several times during the round as the pair struggled to break when told.
Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs) was simply one step ahead, and a stiff right hand buckled his rival’s legs in the fifth, but the ending was surprising in coming just a round later.
Whyte was inching closer to Fury, but out of nowhere, a single right uppercut felled Whyte heavily, and although the Brixton man bravely rose, he was unsteady on his feet, and referee Mark Lyson had seen enough, and correctly called the fight off.
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“I’m overwhelmed by the support,” Fury told BT Sport post-fight.
“Dillian Whyte is a warrior, and I believe he will be world champion, but tonight he met a great.
“You’re messing with the best man on the planet. Lennox Lewis could even be proud of that uppercut.
“I promised my lovely wife Paris that after Wilder III, that would be it.
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“But I got offered a fight at Wembley, and I owed it to every person that has supported me to fight here.
“I have to be a man of my word, so it might well be the final fight for the Gypsy King.”
Essuman outpoints Tetley
The chief support was hastily arranged as Anthony Cacace’s appearance fell by the wayside, and Ekow Essuman defended his British, Commonwealth and IBF European welterweight titles with a scrappy points win over Darren Tetley (21-3, 9 KOs).
It was a tough affair to watch, with not much clean work on display, and Nottingham-based, Essuman (17-0, 7 KOs) took the win by one tally of 117-111 and two scores of 116-112.
Ball stops Lowe
Nick Ball took the vacant WBC Silver featherweight title, as he inflicted a second early defeat in a row on Isaac Lowe, who was halted in the sixth round.
Lowe (21-2-3, 6 KOs) felt Ball’s power in the second round and was decked with a left hand bang on the chin, and he did well to see out the round.
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The ‘Westgate Warrior’ was cut from a clash of heads in round three, and was struggling to negate Ball’s all-action style.
The Liverpool man bullied Lowe to the ropes in the sixth, and with the 28-year-old unable to defend himself, Ball (15-0, 8 KOs) piled in and the referee belatedly stepped in just as the towel came in.
Fury edges closer to Paul clash
Tommy Fury moved a step closer to finally getting into the ring with Jake Paul, as he dominated in a six round points win at light heavyweight against the tough and brave Pole, Daniel Bocianski (10-2, 2 KOs).
The visitor was badly cut, and shipped punishment, before being floored by a heavy right hand in the fifth.
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He survived, but Fury (8-0, 4 KOs) took a 60-54 win on the referee’s card.
Adeleye halts Healey
David Adeleye continued his education, and he stopped Central Area heavyweight champion Chris Healey in four rounds.
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Adeleye (9-0, 8 KOs) landed with a stiff left hand that stunned Healey (9-9, 2 KOs) in round four, and the referee wisely stopped the Stockport man while standing.
Wins for Itauma, Walker, Barney-Smith
Karol Itauma (7-0, 5 KOs) is one to watch, and the light heavyweight improved continued his unbeaten streak, stopping Michal Ciach in two rounds.
Ciach (2-12, 1 KO) was down twice prior to the stoppage.
Kurt Walker (2-0, 1 KO) also remained unbeaten, winning all four rounds against Stefan Nicolae (3-32-2, 1 KO) at super featherweight.
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18-year-old Royston Barney-Smith moved to 2-0 winning every round of four at super featherweight against Constantin Radoi (0-11).
