“Dillian Whyte is a warrior and I believe Dillian will be a world champion but tonight he met a great in the sport and one of the greatest heavyweights in the sport and unfortunately for Dillian Whyte he had to face me tonight,” Fury said. “There is no disgrace. It’s a tough game, man. He’s as strong as a bull and he’s got a heart of a lion. But you’re not messing with a mediocre heavyweight, you’re messing with the best man on the planet and you saw that tonight.”
According to CompuBox, Fury landed 76 of his 243 punches to Whyte’s 29 from 171. The one that decided it was Fury’s 100th power punch thrown and 47th that met its target.
Fury had not fought in his home country since his remarkable comeback from mental health issues, drug and alcohol addictions, which derailed his initial reign as undisputed champion and drove him to the brink of suicide. Now an inspiration to millions in the United Kingdom, and indeed around the world, this occasion was designed to be his homecoming and fortunately for the almost entirely pro-Fury crowd, it went to script.
This was his 32nd win from 33 fights, and that winning punch will go down as yet another signature moment to sit next to his upset win over Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 and his thrilling trilogy with Deontay Wilder.