Dillian Whyte did not attend the first news conference ahead of his bout with Tyson Fury, who insisted he "will not fail" to prove his quality.

Fury puts his WBC heavyweight belt on the line against Whyte at Wembley Stadium on April 23.

Despite the magnitude of the all-British bout, however, Whyte snubbed the chance to face the media on Tuesday.

According to reports, Whyte chose to remain at his training camp in Portugal instead.

That gave Fury free rein to speak, and he took that opportunity before capping off his appearance by facing off against Whyte's poster, in lieu of the man himself.

"I'm looking to show the people and the boxing fraternity how good I really am," said Fury, who defeated Deontay Wilder in their trilogy fight last year.

"And what better opponent to do it against than against a guy who’s been calling for it for 352 years. He finally gets his shot, on the biggest stage, against the biggest champion, on the biggest night.

"I will not fail. I'll show you how great I really am.

"I beat men like him seven days a week and 62 times on a Sunday and I'm going to prove that to you come April 23."

Whyte, who has won 28 of his 30 professional fights, comes into the clash on the back of his TKO victory over Alexander Povetkin, who defeated "The Body Snatcher" in 2020.

But Fury suggested his opponent had shown weakness by failing to attend the media gathering.

"He has definitely shown a white flag today," Fury said. "All this social media stuff, 'I'm not promoting the fight, I'm not getting involved in mind games'. He's given me that much more confidence - it's unbelievable.

"He's terrified. He's definitely showing the white flag in my estimation of this fight.

"The way he's going on about it, saying he doesn't want to go face-to-face, of course he doesn't, because he'll see that fire in my eyes and he'll think, 'I'm getting smashed to bits'.

"That's what it is, it's fear, it's terror. It's all of the above and I don't blame him for not being here today."