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Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte: Challenger can look to Otto Wallin stats for inspiration

Fury Wallin

If Dillian Whyte has any real ambition of dethroning Tyson Fury at Wembley this weekend, he might be forgiven for watching re-runs of the champion's points win over Otto Wallin.

Fury is the heavy favourite with the bookies to retain his WBC heavyweight on April 23 against his domestic rival, but Whyte is a live contender. Even Fury's uncle and former trainer, Peter Fury, says as much: "It's not a foregone conclusion."
But Fury has the size and skillset to dispose of Whyte and chalk up the 32nd win of a brilliant unbeaten career.
Whyte for his part comes armed with a big left hook, plenty of aggression and is renowned for some good body shots.
The Brixton fighter is always somewhat of an awkward customer and although he fights orthodox he does have a damaging left hand.

Furyย has even been seen switch-hitting in training as he prepares to take on Whyte (28-2).

And ifย Whyte wants any encouragement ahead of the fight it should come from Fury's battle with Wallin in September 2019.

The big Swede was unbeaten and gave Fury a huge fright in Las Vegas. In fact southpaw Wallin could have stopped Fury in round three after a clubbing left hook caught the Brit on the right brow.
Fury, who was a 1/25 shot to defeat Wallin, eventually triumphed with a unanimous 116-112, 117-111, 118-110 points win.
But Wallin had been more than a match for Fury, who fought the last nine rounds with a deep cut and with blood pouring from above his right eye.
The cut was repeatedly checked by the ringside doctor, with Wallin pawing Fury's wound at the end of the sixth, a move which clearly irked the Brit.
Still the 'Gypy King' could not get Wallin out of there and had to settle for a points win.
But a closer inspection of the post-fight stats shows that Wallin did land some considerable punches on the champion.
In fact the 31-year-old landed more punches on Fury over 12 rounds than any other fighter.

Wallin's punch success vs Fury

Compubox revealed that Wallin landed a whopping 127 punches throughout the contest, with only Dereck Chisora (115) coming close to that in 2011.
Next in the list of Fury's opponents and their punching success comes Steve Cunningham (91) and Kevin Johnson (85).

Deontay Wilder scored with just 71 punches in their draw in 2018, whileย Wladimir Klitchsko hit him just 51 times in their 2015 unification bout.

So if Whyte is looking for a blueprint for success then the Wallin fight must be on his radar. With Fury tucked up and Wallin in close the Swede delivered a short left-hand which caught Fury. And many pundits say that Fury was lucky not see the fight waved off after needing 47 stitches in the wound.
It's a tactic that may serve Whyte well. Whyte, who is the smaller man, will not be afraid of getting in close to Fury and his left hook is his biggest weapon. Just ask Alexander Povetkin among others.
A great form marker would have been Whyte's scheduled clash with Wallin. The fight was due to take place last October but Whyte had to withdraw with a shoulder injury.
Before that in March, Whyte destroyed Povetkin in four rounds and gained revenge for a shock defeat in their first fight in August 2020 that threatened to derail his shot at a world title.
But after waiting over 1000 days for a shot at a world title, Whyte is expected to go all out for glory. He has refused to get involved in any of the fight build-up after being upset over the 80-20 purse split.

Fury's promoterย Frank Warren has evenย lined up a replacement over fears Whyte will not turn up.

He has been silent on social media, but his lawyer has stated that Whyte will attend the pre-fight press conference and take part in promotions in fight week.

Fury will, no doubt, be well prepared and know all about Whyte's left-hook bombs. As Peter Fury told talkSPORT, Whyte "can bang".

But Fury has been in with arguably the division's biggest puncher in Wilder three times.

Fury's powers of recovery

A look at Fury's career shows that he had miraculous powers of recovery. He has been floored six times in his career - four of those in two fights with Wilder.
He was downed in rounds nine and 12 in the first fight with Wilder which ended in a split decision draw. He then saw the canvas twice in round four of their trilogy fight, but somehow got up and went on to win with an 11th-round knockout.
He was also stopped early in his career in the second round of his fight with Neven Pajkic. It was the first time he had been knocked down as a professional with a big overhand right doing the damage.
Fury went on to win in the third round in the 2011 clash.
Cunningham also floored him two years later on the way to a seventh-round defeat. Again Fury was clobbered by an overhand right, which looked a very heavy shot. However, the 'Gypsy King' took his time and made the count and stopped the American five rounds later.
However, the heaviest knockdown he survived was in the first fight and final round against Wilder. Fury was caught with a straight right which looked to have ended the contest.
The British commentator thought the fight was over, but Fury, who looked out cold, somehow jumped to his feet on the count of seven and satisfied the referee that he was able to continue.

Read more:ย Dillian Whyte's five-fight form guide ahead of facing Tyson Fury at Wembley

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