Dillian Whyte has called Tyson Fury ‘The Gypsy Coward’ after the WBC champion hinted he may not fight him until 2022.

Whyte is currently the mandatory challenger for the WBC belt, a shot he hopes to secure after Fury faces Deontay Wilder for a third time later this year.

But Fury has made some comments suggesting he may fight Anthony Joshua twice in 2021 as the pair recently reached a financial agreement for a two-fight deal.

That would push Whyte’s WBC challenge back even further, something he hopes does not happen.

Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: "[Fury] would like to see me slip-up a million times over, because he would probably prefer to fight Povetkin than fight me, because Tyson Fury knows. They call him The Gypsy King, I call him The Gypsy Coward.

"This is boxing... [Fury] might vacate the belt and run off and go fight Joshua in Saudi or America. Hopefully he’s a man of his word, he said he would annihilate me and smash me to bits.

"He’s a fighting man, he’s not scared to fight anyone, all this crap that he says. Tyson Fury says one thing today and says another thing tomorrow. When he fought Wilder he said, ‘when I beat Wilder I’m going to give Dillian Whyte his shot, it’s long over due etc’.

"But when he fought Wilder he changed his tune he said, ‘oh, I’m not fighting him, I don’t need to fight him, no one dictates - I dictate to myself, I’m the lineal heavyweight champion,’ blah-blah-blah...

"He just talks rubbish - dude, just make your mind up, just stop please."

Fury then responded to The Body Snatcher’s comments with his own charismatic, witty retort on Twitter.

He said: "@DillianWhyte your a mug, Come back when u achieve something dosser, A man who had famous for getting chinned by AJ.

"@DillianWhyte in your dreams bum, listen like a good boy & I might think about giving you a pay day only if your nice. Until then keep fighting 40 odd year olds in eddies garden mr big time."

Whyte’s next fight will be on August 22 against Alexander Povetkin as he headlines Matchroom Boxing’s fourth and final show behind closed doors in Essex.