Dillian Whyte was once again a no show in the build-up to his heavyweight world title fight with Tyson Fury at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
The two British fighters were due to take part in an open workout at BOXPARK Wembley but only defending WBC champion Fury turned up in London on Tuesday.
It came on the back of Whyte's failure to show up for the first fight press conference on March 1, a decision that left some questioning whether the bout would actually take place.
But any fears were eased when Whyte, 34, tweeted for the first time about the fight last Wednesday before attending Thursday’s virtual press conference.
Fury, meanwhile, has repeated his claim that he is going to retire after the Whyte fight, something that even his father, John Fury, insists will not happen.
The Gypsy King is undefeated in 32 bouts, drawing once, and has not fought since beating American Deontay Wilder in the their third fight in October, 2021.
“There’s nothing for me to achieve,” Fury said to talkSPORT Boxing Insider at Tuesday's workout. “I’ve won every belt in the world that there is to win. I’ve broke all records.
“No one in my era has won the Ring Magazine belt, only me. No one in my era has ever been lineal champion, only me.
“I’ve won every single belt there is to win in the sport and I’m getting out healthy, in one piece and undefeated.”
Asked what this means for the much-anticipated fight against another British fighter in Anthony Joshua, Fury added: “Nah, they’ve had their chances. That’s sailed, gone.
“They’ve had so many chances to grow a pair, step in the ring and do battle with the Gypsy King, and they didn’t do it.
“For whatever reason, whether it was gonna be money, or belts, or pride. They had their chance and now it’s flew away.
“I’m sorry, but this is it. Tune in now, because you’re never gonna get to see big GK in action again after this. This is it.”
As for Whyte – who has lost twice in 30 fights; to Joshua and Russia's Alexander Povetkin – he has made clear his unhappiness with the event's promoters after Frank Warren won a record purse bid of $41 million to stage the bout.
Whyte is understood to only be entitled to 20 per cent of the purse and reportedly turned down the offer of a private jet to fly him in from his Portugal training base for last month’s press conference.
“When these guys are trying to mug me off and treat me like this is the Tyson Fury show, they are going to get certain things corrected, so once things got corrected and we were close to getting them corrected, I am a professional so now here I am,” Whyte told BT Sport last week.
“This is business. It is not the Tyson Fury show. Everybody says Tyson Fury this, Tyson Fury that. If Tyson Fury was the big star, he would have sold out the fights with Deontay Wilder. The fights were never sold out, so this sold out because of me and Tyson Fury.
“It is the Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte show. We are both in the fight together, so certain things need to be done correctly. I don’t dance to no one's tune, I am a warrior and survivor.
“We can dance together but it can’t be one-way traffic, so things needed to be sorted out, things needed to be arranged and had to get done. That is it.”
Another fighter targeting a fight against Fury is Oleksandr Usyk, who is set to defend his WBA, WBO and IBF belts against Joshua this summer.
The Ukrainian defeated Joshua in stunning fashion at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last September and has talked about taking on Fury and becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion.
“Definitely yes [we will be watching the fight],” Alexander Krassyuk, Usyk's promoter, told Sky Sports.
“Egis Klimas [Usyk's manager] and myself plan to attend the event and watch it from ringside. At Usyk's training camp, he will watch and study the fight on TV.”
