Joshua vs Molina: Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora open up about infamous dressing room bust-up
Tuesday 6 December 2016 22:25, UK
Heavyweights Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora famously clashed after Whyte's defeat to Anthony Joshua last year, and both have now opened up about what really went down.
The bitter rivals will finally settle their feud on Saturday night as they battle for the British title live on Sky Sports Box Office.
The fiery Londoners have already been separated by security after losing their composure during the filming of 'The Gloves Are Off' and the British Boxing Board of Control has insisted that they be kept apart until the first bell sounds at the Manchester Arena.
The animosity clearly runs deep for both and it was during that filming that the pair argued their different accounts as to what really happened after Whyte's seventh-round stoppage defeat to Joshua a year ago.
Chisora is clear that he meant well, saying: "After the Joshua fight, what was in my mind was to go in there and say 'you know what, you done well'. Any man who would have got hit by those shots would have gone down, but with your stubbornness you stayed up."
Whyte though was quick to disagree: "He was doing a lot of talking before the fight, saying this and that, he was hating on me because I'm involved in a big fight, while he's just fighting journeymen, nobodies in Stockholm.
"He came to the dressing room being a little wimp, so I said 'shut up and get out my dressing room you little punk before I slap you', he was like 'oh I was only coming to say hello' so I was like 'shut up, get out'."
'Del Boy' responded abruptly: "He didn't say shut up, he just said 'I don't want to talk to you right now', so I walked away.
"Listen, you was drinking a bottle of water, standing on the pillar, I know exactly where you was standing. You had your wild dogs with you and one of them was like 'you are a punk'. I wasn't trying to do anything.
"Even to a journeyman who gets in the ring and fights, after all you go and say well done. Sky asked me before how I saw this fight going and I told them it was going one way, Dillian is going to get knocked out in the first round.
"At the same time, I had heard from the circuit that he had shoulder problems, and then he gets upset by me saying it. People come on television and say things about me, I don't get upset and just brush it off. You call me a donkey and I brush it off."
It is a conflict that has been long ongoing and both claim that they were the dominant fighter in their sole sparring session.
"I have got the DVD off him kissing the canvas," Chisora firstly explained. "A straight jab down to the body, then up with the left hook and I shocked him with the right hand. He went down and got back up so fast that we stopped the sparring.
"You came to the gym on the train and afterwards, I paid for your taxi to the hospital. Sparring is sparring anyway, it don't matter."
Whyte was quick to counter those claims again: "Our rivalry started as a kid when I walked off the street and walked into the gym and gave him a hiding.
"He didn't knock me out, we sparred once, this guy hasn't got any control and he punched me on the back of the head when we were told to break.
"I was beating him down and he tried to take liberties because I was a young kid, 21. He's just a bully."
Watch Dillian Whyte v Dereck Chisora on the undercard of Joshua v Molina, on December 10, live on Sky Sports Box Office. Book the event via your Sky remote or online here.