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Dillian Whyte bars Anthony Joshua from his fight with Tyson Fury

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Dillian Whyte has told Anthony Joshua he is not welcome at Saturday’s dust-up with Tyson Fury.

The Body Snatcher wants Joshua to snub a ringside seat at Wembley to focus on saving his own career in his July rematch with Ukraine’s Olesksandr Usyk.

Whyte, who battles Fury for his WBC heavyweight crown, said: “I don’t want AJ at my fight. He needs to fight Usyk and focus on that.

“In the build-up to the last Usyk fight he was too worried about re-matching me and telling people he wanted to beat me up.

“I wanted to shout out ‘bro, leave me alone and focus on Usyk’. And then look what happened, he got in the fight and looked spaced out, clueless.

“He needs to focus on what he has to do, he needs to forget becoming undisputed and worry about Usyk, because if he doesn’t beat Usyk then where does he go?

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“Now is the best time to face Usyk, who knows where the poor guy’s head is at. If you can’t beat Usyk now – with what he has been through – then you never will.

“I don’t want Anthony Joshua to retire because I want to fight him again.”

Whyte beat Joshua in 2009 during their amateur days before losing to him in their pro fight in 2015.

Joshua, 32, has backed Whyte to win but only because he “hates” his fellow Londoner and wants to “smash him”.

Whyte is far kinder to Joshua – who is set to challenge Usyk for his old WBA, IBF and WBO belts in Saudi Arabia on July 23 – in the hope of getting the chance to settle scores.

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If Whyte can upset Fury in front of 94,000 fans will be able to pick any opponent he wants and spark a bidding war in England and America.

He added: “If I wake up on Sunday morning as the heavyweight champion of the world, AJ won’t be my first thought.

“I will be running around the whole hotel and streets with nothing but my belt on, naked… doing the helicopter!”

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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