Tyson Fury poured scorn on Dillian Whyte for swerving the press conference heralding their much-anticipated world heavyweight title fight on 23 April at Wembley Stadium.
Whyte was conspicuous by his absence on Tuesday, which Fury's co-promoter Frank Warren, who won the right to stage this fight by putting down a record $41million at purse bids, labelled "disgraceful".
The Londoner, the mandatory challenger to Fury's WBC title, is in Portugal preparing for the bout and, according to Warren, rejected the offer of a private jet to fly to London for the media event.
Fury said: "I've got a new name for him. He is called 'Frillian White Knickers’, because he is as soft as it says in the title.
"He has shown his colours today. He gets upset and causes a ruckus, now he has given me that much more confidence.
"I’m not concerned because this is the Tyson Fury roadshow, it’s never about the opponent.
"He’s ugly anyway, this is about me and celebrating my legacy and celebrating it on the biggest stage possible.
"It doesn’t matter who it is, it’s always going to be the Tyson Fury roadshow.
"He’s definitely raised the white flag for this fight. He doesn’t want to go face-to-face because he would see the fire in my eyes and know he’s getting smashed to bits. It’s fear, it’s terror and I don’t blame him for not being here today."
Whyte is only entitled to 20% of the purse and there was speculation he was seeking to renegotiate terms before signing his contract last week, but Warren argued the 33-year-old was getting a career high pay-day.
"I've never heard of a fighter not showing up to a press conference," Warren said.
"He's getting eight times more than Tyson got to fight (Wladimir) Klitschko, he's getting more than (Anthony) Joshua got paid to fight (Charles) Martin, he's getting more than (Oleksandr) Usyk got to fight Joshua.
"Champions bank on themselves to win, that's what they do to become the king: you win the title, you get the money.
"It's just not right, we are where we are but Dillian Whyte is in Portugal, he should be here. It's disgraceful that he's not here, it's not professional.
"The atmosphere is going to be brilliant. All we need is the other side of the card to show up!"
While Whyte has won 28 of his 30 contests, Fury remains unbeaten as a professional with 31 victories and one draw from his 32 fights and he believes he is a cut above his next opponent.
Fury, preparing to fight for the first time on British soil in nearly four years, added: "He's no different to many of the other opponents I’ve fought in my career. They’re all dangerous, they’ve all got a puncher’s chance.
"I always put a lot of pressure on myself and if I can’t look like Muhammad Ali boxing this guy then I’m in the wrong position and I’m not as good as I think I am. I will chop him to bits, not a problem.
"You’re going to see a boxing a masterclass, you’ll see the difference in levels, you’re going to see the Ferrari racing the Vauxhall Corsa in a race. There’s levels to this game.
"I’m not saying Dillian Whyte’s not capable of winning a fight because he’s won nearly 30 fights but there’s a gulf in class here. If I’m daft enough to get knocked out by him then I don’t deserve to be world heavyweight champion."
April's fight will see Fury return to the UK after five successive bouts in America.
"It’s been a rollercoaster of a ride. I’ve been across the ocean and now – after four years away – I get to come back to Wembley Stadium with almost 100,000 fans there," he added.
"I believe it’s the biggest British heavyweight fight since Lennox Lewis against Frank Bruno (in October 1993).
"Who knows it could be me who gets chinned? But I think, when I land the Lancaster bomber on his jaw, it’ll be over.
"It could be over in round one or in round six but I don’t think it will go past that."
Fury is represented by MTK Global, which is a sports management company linked to Daniel Kinahan.
