TYSON FURY denied being dropped by Dillian Whyte in sparring and claimed: ‘I used him as a punching bag’.
The heavyweight rivals, both 33, climbed the ranks together and were former training partners.
But over the years their relationship soured and is due to be settled on April 23 at Wembley.
In the past, Whyte claimed he floored Fury on more than one occasion during one of their now-famed sparring sessions.
He said on Sky Sports: “I don’t like telling sparring stories, but people in the game know. They know about me.
“Well, me and Tyson Fury sparred and I bashed him about and dropped him on multiple occasions. Simple as that.”
But Fury tells a different story, one that includes beating Whyte so badly his cousin Hughie, a teenager at the time, had to replace him.
He told Carl Frampton for BT Sport: “I’ve sparred Dillian Whyte many, many times. And every single time I used him as a punching bag.
FREE BETS: GET OVER £2,000 IN NEW CUSTOMER DEALS
“There were times when he couldn’t defend himself and there was a time where we had to stop the sparring and Hughie had to spar him, my cousin Hughie instead.
“Hughie was about 18 at the time and he used to batter him.
“All these stories of him knocking me down 25 times in sparring – highly unlikely anyone believes that rubbish.”
Fury was quick to again refute Whyte’s sparring allegation – but insisted it would not matter even if it was true.
He said: “There’s no substance to it, knocking me down umpteen times and all that.
“Just say he did knock me down eight times in sparring, we all know sparring ain’t fighting, is it?
“How many times have you seen people in the gym get absolutely busted up and then on fight night they boxed like Sugar Ray Leonard?
“Sometimes you don’t have good days in the gym, bad days whatever, but sparring ain’t fighting.
“And just for the record, he never knocked me down once. I’ve never been knocked down in a spar, ever.”
