Boxing as a sport is brutal and savage by its very nature, but did British boxer Dillian Whyte go too far on the side-lines this weekend?
In a one-minute video posted online showing a press interview for the Martin Bakole vs Ihor Shevadzutskyi fight, the 35-year-old was supposedly there to show his support, but an age-old beef was instead reignited.
During the seemingly normal interview, Whyte was talking to TVP Sports when it suddenly took a turn for the worst as both of the fighters got into an altercation on Polish live TV.
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In the clip, highly-rated heavyweight Bakole could be heard shouting in the background of Whyte’s interview, which seemed to hinder the British boxer from being able to answer properly.
After managing to get out his reply, Whyte turned himself in the direction of Bakole and shouted some pretty hefty accusations.
He said: “Shut up, you nonce, you f***ing paedophile.”
The Polish interviewer didn’t seem to know how to react but remained professional during the tirade.
However, Whyte wasn’t finished, as he added: “This guy is a paedophile. He has sex with young kids.”
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The interview was quickly wrapped up after the comment and those accusations about Bakole all seems to stem from a 2020 incident on Twitter as well as a recent altercation on the steps of the G2A Arena.
After Bakole won in just three rounds in Rzeszow, both fighters ran into each other in the lobby which is when it all kicked off.
In a circulated video, Whyte was filmed telling Bakole to “come upstairs” but he didn’t accept the call out.
The allegations thrown at Bakole during the interview came from a video the 29-year-old posted to his Twitter in April 2020.
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It featured disgusting content between a man and a child and was swiftly deleted moments later but fans saw it.
This caused Bakole to release a statement.
He said: “I wanted to address my post last week. I intended to draw attention to the disgusting and vile person in the video, not condone the action in any way.
“My culture is to expose these nasty people. I now understand this is not the right approach through social media.
“I am very sorry for posting the video.”
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After the statement, it seems as though Whyte caught wind of the controversy and isn’t planning on letting him get away with it.
Just as with his recent beef with Bakole, Whyte is known as a UK loudmouth who has called out the likes of Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder in the past by blasting them on social media and in interviews.
Fan comments on Twitter regarding his Polish TV accusations seemed to support the fighter and his bluntness.
One replied under the video: “No filter Dillian is undefeated.”
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Another said: “He isn’t wrong tho.”
A third chimed in with: “No smoke without fire.”
Is this the finale of the pair’s explosive encounters or will there be more to come after the latest showdown?
Britt Jones