Tyson Fury sang before a crowd after knocking out Deontay Wilder 0:42
(CNN) --
"Who would have thought?"
Tyson Fury asked, almost incredulous.
"Even we didn't think we were going to do 90-odd thousand at Wembley."
Such is the grandeur of this Saturday's fight against Dillian Whyte for the WBC world heavyweight title, against the backdrop of a record 94,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, that even Fury himself has a hard time processing the enormity. of the occasion.
The fight will break the attendance record for a fight in the 21st century and the largest in Europe, quite a stage for these two British boxers.
In recent years, the build-up to some heavyweight bouts has been dominated by acrimony between opposing fighters, but this one is totally different.
Tyson Fury knocked out Deontay Wilder to retain the WBC title in a remarkable heavyweight fight
There is an obvious mutual respect between Fury and Whyte;
in fact, at Wednesday's press conference, Fury alluded to their days together a decade ago, when the two would face each other in training.
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Much has changed since Fury and Whyte were those rookie fighters — "one hell of a ride," as Fury called it — and the two are now the main attraction on one of the biggest nights in boxing history.
"We haven't done bad, have we?"
Fury said.
One man who knows the Mancunian well is former heavyweight champion Joseph Parker, who has been helping Fury prepare for this Saturday's fight.
"It's going to be a tough fight, a good fight," Parker told CNN Sport.
"Both guys have prepared very well ... someone is going to get knocked out."
That "someone," he specifies, is Whyte.
"Tyson is going to knock him out in the middle rounds, between rounds five and nine," adds Parker confidently.
Heavyweight boxing has been blessed with numerous memorable fights in recent years, with Fury involved in many of the best, and Parker believes this Saturday's fight is "right up there."
"It's right at the top," he says.
"Obviously the biggest crowd [in Europe] and you have two of the best heavyweight fighters going head to head.
"He's breaking a lot of records and I think everyone is excited about the anticipation [for the fight]."
Tyson Fury insists that Saturday's fight will be his last.
The bout has also generated additional interest as it comes against the backdrop of the US State Department offering rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to each of the three arrests." Irish transnational organized criminals, especially Daniel Kinahan, who has wielded significant influence in the boxing world in recent years.
Kinahan's ties to boxing stem from his former ties to the MTK Global agency, an organization whose most prestigious client is heavyweight champion Fury.
This Wednesday, MTK Global announced the cessation of its activities.
"As a company we have faced unprecedented levels of scrutiny and unfair criticism since the US government sanction of Daniel Joseph Kinahan," MTK Global said in a statement.
"It is a matter of public record that Mr. Kinahan's involvement with MTK ceased in 2017, and despite repeated assurances to this effect, unsubstantiated allegations about his continued association with us and our fighters persist."
"Since the major promoters have now informed us that they will sever all ties with MTK and will no longer work with our fighters, we have made the difficult decision to cease operations at the end of this month," the company reported.
Fury's farewell?
Fury has not fought on British soil since his 2018 wins over Sefer Seferi and Francesco Pianeta.
Since then, he has fought Deontay Wilder in the United States three times, drawing once and winning twice, to win and then retain the WBC heavyweight title.
It says something of Fury's magnetism and his extraordinary popularity with British boxing fans that all 94,000 tickets for this Saturday's fight sold out within hours when they went on sale in March.
The opportunity for tens of thousands of fans to see Fury fight in the flesh was not going to be passed up.
Tyson Fury knocked out Deontay Wilder in the third of their trilogy bouts.
In the years since his last bout in Britain, fans have stayed up into the small hours to watch his fights or, in the case of some 20,000 die-hards, have traveled to Las Vegas to see them in person.
But perhaps the reason this fight has captured the nation's imagination so much is due to the fact that it seems more and more likely that it will be Fury's last.
At 33 years old, and having risen to the top of boxing on more than one occasion during his illustrious 14-year professional career, the Manchester-born fighter says he will hang up his gloves after Saturday's fight.
When Fury made the first statement at the fight's press conference in March, most took his words with a grain of salt.
It looks like Fury still has a lot to do: a long-awaited British showdown against Anthony Joshua or a world heavyweight championship unification match against Oleksandr Usyk, after the Ukrainian dismounted Joshua in September.
However, at Tuesday's open practice outside Wembley Stadium, Fury reiterated that statement with growing fervour.
"I know no one believes me because everyone thinks I'm after money or anything else," Fury told Top Rank.
"I'm going to go. I have nothing to prove to anyone, I've done what I had to do and that's it. I always planned to walk away and here we are, walking away. The great Julius Caesar once said: 'There will always be someone else to fight with. '. There's a million young people coming up."
"You can't go on forever, any more than Wladimir [Klitschko] and Joe Louis, Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis before me could. Every good dog has its day," he added.
It might not have been Cesar's exact words, but Fury's statement had a conviction that it didn't have before.
Additionally, Parker told CNN that he believes Fury is "very sincere" when he talks about his impending retirement.
A chance for the boxer
But to say that the hype around this fight is solely due to Fury would be doing a disservice to Whyte, who is recognized by most as a dangerous and serious opponent.
Even forgetting his power and ability, Whyte's hunger makes him a formidable foe.
This opportunity to fight for the world title has been long awaited – and well deserved – and the 34-year-old is ready to take it with both hands, with multiple reports stating that this has been by far the most intense training camp ever. of his career.
Curiously, however, Wednesday's press conference was the first time these two fighters had met face-to-face in the build-up to this fight.
In fact, according to Fury, it was the first time "in years" that they had seen each other in person.
Whyte had refused to participate in any promotional work - he even did not attend the presentation press conference last month - due to an alleged dispute on his part of the bag, among other issues.
"There are two sides to every story," he told the assembled media on Wednesday.
"You guys listen to one side because they say a lot of things. Since I don't say anything, they say you're scared or hiding."
However, the London fighter assures that the hype that has been given to this fight is due as much to him as to Fury.
"Three great fights against Deontay Wilder and none of them have been completely sold out," Whyte told Sky Sports.
"Tyson Fury is not this huge giant superstar that everyone says he is, he is not. The fight at Wembley is sold out because it is Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte, not Tyson Fury and someone else."
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