Dillian Whyte determined to fight on despite failing to dethrone heavyweight king Tyson Fury

Dillian Whyte was unable to dethrone the heavyweight king from his throne on Saturday night, but the Brixton fighter is confident he still has plenty of big nights ahead of him.

The 34-year-old shunned the spotlight for nearly all of the lead-up to last weekend’s showdown in front of 94,000 fight fans at Wembley Stadium.

And he was unable to prevent Fury from being the main focus after the bout as the Mancunian retained his WBC world title by sixth-round stoppage.

But while the self-anointed Gypsy King steadfastly maintained that he was done with boxing – instead possibly indulging in some kind of exhibition against UFC champion Francis Ngannou or another guest appearance on WWE wrestling – Whyte was left insisting that a third inside-the-distance defeat was not the end of the line.

“I’m not one of those guys who wants to go out on a loss or a bad performance,” said the South Londoner.

“I’m still young enough, still got a lot left in me and I’m still getting better. I fought the best in the world and was not outclassed. His range is a bit trickier for me, it is hard to get guys to prepare for him because he is awkward.

“I landed my fair share and I didn’t get bashed up for four or five rounds, or completely outclassed – [then] it is time to call it a day. I wasn’t outclassed.

“It is not a long, hard road back because I showed the level I am and we sold 90,000-odd tickets together. I had a value going in and I’ve had lots of pay-per-views that have all sold out and all been good fights. One fight and I’m back.”

If Whyte has the appetite then there are definitely opportunities out there for him.

He has an excellent relationship with Eddie Hearn, headlining many of Matchroom Boxing’s pay-per-view events. They were the closest bidder to Queensberry Promotions and Top Rank, whose combined purse bid of £31million earned them the rights to stage the Fury showdown.

Some of Whyte’s comments in the aftermath either portrayed him as a fighter in denial or deluded.

Rather than accept he was caught with a peach of a right uppercut that felled him like a mighty oak, he instead claimed that Fury had pushed him to the canvas with both hands and that had caused the damage.

It was telling that none of the post-fight reaction gave it more than, at best, a fleeting mention.

Former super-middleweight star Carl Froch, who has fought at the same venue against George Groves in 2014, told 5 Live Boxing: “Was it a slow and cumbersome performance [from Whyte] or was it a genius masterclass from the king, the Gypsy King?

“Tyson was just controlling that distance and making it look ugly at times – keeping himself out of harm’s way until the uppercut landed, and it landed flush on the chin.

“Fury found the punch and the fight was over.”

The uppercut has been the finisher in all of Whyte’s losses – to Anthony Joshua, Alexander Povetkin and now Fury. He looked fatigued after the first few rounds, expending energy grappling and rough-housing with his much taller opponent.

I also made a note that he seemed to dip after taking a punch in the fifth round, a sign that Fury’s punches were beginning to have significant effect.

It was exactly the tactics that Fury needed to employ, softening up Whyte. The first time he connected with a proper power head shot it had dramatic results.

“It was a close fight,” said Whyte, who bizarrely fought out of the southpaw stance in the opening three minutes.

“My game plan was to start coming on more and more, press him and work the body. My coaches gave me great advice. Sometimes when you’re in there you see something else, you make a decision and it didn’t pay off.

“I was countering and trying to attack. I got caught with the shot. It was 50-50 up until then. He gave me problems and I gave him problems.

“You can reflect and think ‘I should’ve done this, I should’ve done that’. I was way better than they thought I was and way more elusive than they thought as well.

“I can box as well as fight. I knew [going southpaw] that would mess with him as well, because it was something he would do.

“I got cut on the side of my head. Tyson Fury was dirty with the head. Then I got told off by the ref and I thought ‘what the hell is going on here?’ I got headbutted and then the fight started to spiral a bit.

“He started punching me on the back of the head, so I started doing it to him. I kept getting the blame but he was the one who keep holding and was headbutting – being dirty.

“Am I just going to let him do that? No way am I just going to let someone do whatever they want to me.”

Fury had praise for the challenger  when addressing the assembled media less than an hour after retaining his title.

“I spoke to Dillian after the fight – I gave him a kiss and a cuddle. I thanked him and told him: ‘You’ll be a world champion Dillian – but not tonight’. He came and did his best.

“There is no embarrassment losing to a better man on the night. At least you’ve got the guts to go in there and have a fight.”