LONDON (AP) — The mood was light and so was Tyson Fury, who weighed in for his WBC heavyweight title defense against Dillian Whyte 12 pounds (more than five kilograms) lighter than his last fight.
Fury weighed 264.8 pounds (120kg) on Friday, a day before the all-British bout at Wembley Stadium.
Whyte tipped the scales at 253 1/4 pounds (114.8kg) — six pounds (nearly three kilos) heavier than his last fight.
During a downright friendly face-to-face — which underscored the 6-foot-9 Fury’s significant height advantage — the men smiled and tickled each other before an earnest handshake and exchange of caps.
Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) promised it would be a different story on Saturday in front of more than 94,000 spectators in his second defense of the title he won in February 2020.
“Don’t doubt us, we’re going to put a show on, like no other before,” Fury said. “It’s going to be a war, don’t worry about that.”
Fury’s weight was lighter than in both of his recent fights against Deontay Wilder. The self-styled “Gypsy King” was 273 pounds (124kg) when he beat Wilder the first time and 277 pounds (nearly 126kg) last October for the trilogy bout.
The weigh-in continued what has been a relatively low-key buildup between the former sparring partners.
Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) has largely secluded himself at his training camp in Portugal while leaving Fury to drum up interest in the past month.
Fury has suggested he’ll retire after the fight, though hugely lucrative bouts against Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua could surely make him think twice.
Usyk beat Joshua last September to take the WBA, IBF and WBO crowns and is preparing for a rematch with Joshua after leaving his native Ukraine, where he was helping his country in the war with Russia.
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