Mark Robinson
Heavyweight Dillian Whyte has refused to sign a contract or promote a fight with Tyson Fury unless he guarantees more money.
That’s the view of Top Rank promoter and Fury’s USA handler Bob Arum, who claims the British boxer is greedy in his quest for an extensive UK battle.
Despite being the mandatory challenger and securing his highest career payday thanks to a world record purse bid, this isn’t good enough for Whyte.
According to Arum, Whyte intends to stay silent until the $7 million purse increases.
“He’s saying, ‘I want extra money to promote.’ Our position is, ‘We’re not gonna give it to you,’” Arum told the Unibet Lowdown.
“If he doesn’t [sign the contract and promote the fight], he’s a damn fool.”
Whyte has already launched a legal bid to force the World Boxing Council to push his purse split from $7 million to at least $16 million.
If Whyte won the fight, he’d stand to pocket $20.7m due to a ten percent winner’s clause in the contract.
However, the whole situation is leaving a bad taste in the mouth of UK boxing fans and not helping elevate Whyte’s homeland reputation.
‘The BodySnatcher’ has faced controversy before as he’s tested positive for banned substances twice during his career. The first time he served out a suspension was between 2012 and 2014.
An appeal to the original sentence got upheld in 2013.
Whyte then got provisionally banned again in 2019 after controversially beating Oscar Rivas. This suspension got subsequently lifted, and Whyte fought five months later.
DILLIAN WHYTE ROAD
It’s been a rocky road for Whyte, which has yet to result in world heavyweight title fights. If he still disagrees on the Fury contract by this Saturday, Dillian Whyte will again face a wait to get his opportunity.
The interim WBC ruler may be hoping arbitration will sort out the mess created. Experience tells us this won’t be the case. Whyte is unlikely to overturn a WBC ruling that appears in their rules and regulations.
World Boxing Council chiefs have the right to alter any stipulate purse bid split when they see fit. It would take a gutsy arbitrator to be able to sever any sanctioning body’s inner workings.
The whole situation blows up with each passing day, with Fury once again forced to delay his next fight.
Initially wanting to fight in March, that date got pushed back to April. Fury will not want to wait any longer than six months to get back in the ring.
The views expressed in this article are opinions of Phil Jay.
Phil Jay – Editor of World Boxing News since 2010 with over one billion views. Follow WBN on Twitter @WorldBoxingNews.
This news is republished from another source. You can check the original article here