The bad blood and hate at the heart of Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte

It is rare for there to be the genuine bad blood and hate in a world heavyweight title fight that exists in the rival camps of Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte.

The two British heavyweights meet in April

There is always a bit of fake noise, perhaps a shove, a lunge, a foul-mouthed assault, but it is odd for two teams to be at the point where they are close to not being able to communicate. That is rare even in the modern boxing game where so many, suddenly have so much power.

Some of the greatest rivalries in heavyweight history had wonderful agendas, but business was often normal away from the hype and confrontations. There is nothing false about this fight's unpleasantness.

Right now, there are continuing doubts over Whyte's role in the promotion for the fight; Whyte has had his lawyer ask several questions and Fury's people have responded. There is a stand-off here, a real hard wall of reason to climb. Fury's people are, understandably, just getting on with business.

Obviously, two camps disliking each other is nothing new in the boxing game where conferences have been ruined by scuffling outfits, men have been put behind metal bars, kept in closed rooms and escorted to and from the stage by dozens of minders. This fight is extreme and there is a long, long way to go before the pair are on the same stage swapping insults.

This fight has all the early signs to become part of the sport's dirty history.

At the first announcement for their fight, Mike Tyson bit Lennox Lewis on the leg and Lewis responded with a free punch. “He missed his chance to kill me,” Tyson said in the week of their actual fight. “If he had bit me, he would be dead.” In the ring on that hot and fevered night in Memphis, the pair were kept apart by a