Apparently, there is no such thing as “keeping it in the gym” for Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte when it comes to their infamous sparring sessions.

Fury, the WBC heavyweight titlist, doubled down on an oft-repeated assertion that he “battered” Whyte many times in sparring sessions that presumably took place many years ago.

“I’ve sparred Dillian Whyte many, many times and every single time I’ve used him as a punching bag,” Fury said in an interview with Carl Frampton on a BT Sport segment. “There were times when he couldn’t defend himself. There were times where we had to stop the sparring.”

Of course, Whyte himself has claimed that it was he who had his way with Fury in sparring.  

“I don't like telling sparring stories, but people in the game know,” the Jamaican-born, London-based Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) said last year. “They know about me. Well, me and Tyson Fury sparred, and I bashed him about and dropped him on multiple occasions. Simple as that.”

Whatever the truth may be, the two will get a chance to dish it out for real on April 23 at Wembley Stadium in London for Fury’s WBC belt.

Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) said he was not sure what to make of Whyte’s comments but was quick to point out that sparring, in the end, is a world of difference from actual sanctioned fighting.

“There’s no substance to it, knocking me down umpteenth times and all that,” Fury said. “Just say he did knock me down eight times in sparring — just say eight— we all know, and you’re a former world champion, sparring ain’t fighting is it? How many times have you seen people in the gym get absolutely busted up and on fight night they box like Sugar Ray Leonard?

“Sometimes you don’t have good days in the gym, bad days, whatever. But sparring ain’t fighting. Just for the record, he never knocked me down once, and I’ve never been knocked down in sparring ever.”

“Well sparring ain’t fighting if you ain’t got eight ounce gloves on,” Fury continued. “10 for me. When the gloves are on, with the smaller gloves wrapped up, that’s what really counts. I believe sparring is more like an exercise to practice what you’re gonna do in the real fight. It doesn’t matter if you get it wrong 100 times in the gym as long as you get it right one time on the night.”

There have been other sparring rumors that have dogged Fury, most notably one that suggested he was knocked out by rising heavyweight Jared Anderson ahead of Fury’s third match with Deontay Wilder October. Fury dismissed those rumors, as did Anderson.

Fury made it clear that he has been getting plenty of dangerous sparring in the past few years and singled out Anderson as a future world champion.  

“Last four or five fights I’ve had unlimited sparring, because I’ve been in America, Vegas, and there’s tons of sparring there,” Fury said. “Everybody wants to knock the champ out.

“I’m sparring Efe Ajagba in the last camp. He was like number six or number seven, could’ve been number five, in the WBC. He was good sparring for me…Also this young American guy called Jared Anderson that I really rate and that I really believe will become heavyweight champion someday. I’ve been using him the last three camps. He’s been giving me unbelievable work. He’s 22 years old, fast, slick, he’s everything you need to be to be world champion. He’s been giving me the best work of everybody.