Dillian Whyte provided a gruesome description while explaining the agonising injury that he suffered, just weeks before his last fight against Moses Itauma.

“It felt like someone had dropped a dumbbell on my foot,” revealed Whyte when asked to put into words the pain caused by the fractured foot that he sustained in training last summer.

“I was running and I felt it [my foot] and then I went to spar and I was sparring big, agile guys and someone was pressing me, I stepped back the wrong way and then it just fractured clean.

“It was terrible, but we’re used to pulling off miracles. We’re used to fighting injured.

“I made the best of the situation and had a decent camp. I felt good during fight week and really thought I would beat Moses.”

Whyte has entered the ring before with debilitating injuries. He famously fought bitter rival Anthony Joshua whilst being hampered by a badly damaged shoulder and other grim wounds have been overcome in a heavyweight career that led him to become two-time WBC interim world champion.

But the Brixton man could not shrug off the effects of his injured foot and the bone fractured again while he was limbering up in the dressing room, only hours before he was due to face Itauma in Saudi Arabia last August.

“I started warming up, jumped a little bit of rope, and then reinjured the foot. Completely fractured it again,” said Whyte.

“We had to call the doctor who was with me to examine it. He advised me not to fight and I said ‘no’. There’s no way I’m going to come all the way to Saudi and not fight last minute.

“I was confident that I would still be able to drag Moses into the later rounds and stop him as [Filip] Hrgovic recently did.”

Whyte tried to conceal his damaged foot, which had been heavily strapped, but his lack of mobility was exposed by Itauma, who piled on a succession of punches before the bout was waved off in the opening round.

While Itauma celebrated his victory, Whyte remained silent about his significant injury and has been absent from the ring since that fight.

“I didn’t want to mention it, go into it, and take away from his win, because he done alright. I got clocked and he won the fight.

“I didn’t want to go on too much about it and I think people got carried away with the fact that I got beat in a round by Moses.

“I don’t think people would draw the same conclusions if they had the full facts.

“People have short memories and they like to say ‘retire because of this, retire because of that’ but what they don’t realise is we’re members of a rare generation of entertaining British heavyweight boxers that are coming to the end of our careers.

“I love boxing and I’ll fight anyone. Be grateful that you have guys like me around because when we’re gone, there will be a long drought in the heavyweight division.”

Johnny Fisher called for the return of Whyte last week, insisting that there is a ‘good chance’ the fight could happen in the near future.

Whyte readily accepted the verbal challenge and was watching from ringside as Fisher battled to a majority decision victory over Michael Pirotton at the Copper Box Arena last weekend.

“Credit to Johnny Fisher, because he’s a big lump, he hasn’t had time to learn a lot, but he’s got a lot of courage, he’s got a lot of heart, he’s a big puncher and he’s brave,” said Whyte, who is open to facing Fisher in November or December this year.

“He’s a bit frantic and that, but he’s very brave and he’s a big guy who punches hard. When the fight gets tough, he keeps trying and he keeps coming back.

“You can never overlook that but let’s be honest, I will knock Johnny Fisher out, simple as that.”

Whyte was joined by manager Michael Ofo, who says the fight has already been verbally accepted by Fisher’s team and is hopeful it can be finalised.

“The fight was agreed in principle following Fisher’s win on Saturday night with a handshake between me and Fisher’s manager Adam Morallee,” said Ofo.

“I was unsure whether Fisher and his management would take the fight, in spite of Fisher having called Dillian out, so I called Adam over and asked him. He immediately responded: ‘Absolutely. Let’s do it next!’

“It would be a huge all-British clash and a massive event for London. So, let’s stop talking and get it on!”

Euro ’96 was the first European Championship staged after Czechoslovakia separated – forming the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

But nobody expected the Czech team to have much impact at the tournament, including the country’s own players.

They were outsiders, and most of the squad were still based in their domestic league.

Several had booked their holidays for straight after the group stage – which involved Germany, Italy and Russia – and Vladimir Smicer was even due to get married.

Midfielder Patrik Berger says his then Borussia Dortmund team-mate Jurgen Kohler did not even know the Czechs were at the Euros… and the defender was in the Germany squad.

Berger, speaking to the BBC Sporting Witness podcast earlier this year, said of Kohler: “He was asking me what my plans were for the summer. I said ‘I’m going to the Euros’ and he said ‘to watch games?’

“I said ‘no, we’re playing you guys the first game of the group stages and then we will play in the final’ – and he was laughing.”

The Czechs lost their opening game 2-0 to Germany at Old Trafford before beating Italy 2-1 at Anfield.

Smicer’s late equaliser in a 3-3 draw against Russia – at his future home of Anfield – was enough to see them through because Italy failed to beat Germany in the other game, finishing 0-0.

“We knew we were still in it, but we didn’t know what the other result is,” said Berger, who would go on to play for Liverpool with Smicer. “One minute we’re not qualifying, the next it was we qualified, so we didn’t really know.

“After the final whistle it took a few minutes before we realised we qualified for the quarter-finals.”

In the quarters came one of the most memorable European Championship goals ever, with Karel Poborsky scooping the ball over Vitor Baia from the edge of the box to give the Czech Republic a 1-0 win over Portugal at Villa Park.

And, after a goalless draw against France in the semis at Old Trafford, the Czechs would win 6-5 on penalties.

Their spot-kicks were netted by players including future Ballon d’Or winner Pavel Nedved, Berger and Poborsky, who was back at the ground weeks later as a newly signed Manchester United player.

“You don’t want to go there,” said Berger of taking a penalty in a shootout.

“If someone says something different they’re lying. Nobody wants to take that penalty.”

He said the team “couldn’t believe” they had beaten France.

“We were living the dream,” Berger said. “It was an amazing feeling. An amazing moment for the country.

“To get to the final was kind of like a miracle for everyone.”

Two days before the final, Smicer returned to Prague to get married.

Thousands of Czech fans turned out in the city centre for the occasion, but Smicer had to return to England the same day.

The Czech Republic faced Germany in the final at Wembley – and led after 59 minutes through Berger’s drilled penalty.

He revealed he was not even meant to be the penalty taker but “could see nobody really wanted to take the ball”.

“The only thing in my mind was hit it as hard as possible on target,” he said.

Sadly for the Czechs, Oliver Bierhoff equalised 14 minutes later – and then scored the first ever golden goal in a major tournament final to give Germany the win.

“It wasn’t meant to be,” said Berger. “I’d love to be European champion, but silver for us was like a gold because it opened doors to so many of us. And it opened doors to the generation after us. I have no regrets.

“Thanks to Euro 96, because it was played in England, I caught the eye of Liverpool.

“There were 100,000 waiting for us in Prague celebrating. Even silver felt like winning the tournament for us.”