Tyson Fury will not fight Dillian Whyte next in an all-British heavyweight clash for the WBC title, his promoter Frank Warren has revealed.
Earlier this month Fury was ordered to defend his belt against the 33-year-old, who was confirmed as the mandatory challenger as the lengthy arbitration dispute between the governing body and Whyte appeared to come to an end.
That seemed to set everything in motion for a huge bout between the Brits in March next year, with Cardiff rumoured as a possible location for the fight.
With Whyte and his promoter Eddie Hearn pushing for 45% of the split and Fury’s team suggesting closer to 20%, a deal seemed unlucky to be agreed and so it looked inevitable that the fight would got to a purse bid.
But Warren has insisted that Whyte’s issues with the WBC are still not sorted, and that the plan is instead for Fury to return to the ring against a different opponent in March, with his belt not on the line.
“One of our March shows, I’m pretty confident, will feature Tyson Fury,” Warren told iFL TV. “But he won’t be defending his WBC title.
“There’s a problem there, not of our making or his making. The WBC and Dillian Whyte are in arbitration and that hearing is not set to be heard until March.
“We can’t negotiate, it’s all very well Eddie Hearn with his nonsense about negotiating. How can you negotiate when the WBC haven’t said what the splits are?
“In his mind, he thinks he’s getting 45 per cent, in our mind it’s 20 per cent, based upon their previous purses that were lodged under WBC regulations.
“And they won’t determine those percentages until the arbitration and until that happens, we can’t negotiate and that doesn’t mean you could then do the fight in April.
“That would go on until June so Tyson will fight, but not for the WBC title.”
Warren insisted that the problems were all down to Whyte and his team, and that Fury has no choice but to go in search of a different opponent as he wants to stay active.
“We’re innocent parties in this, it’s not our thing. It’s a legal dispute between the WBC and Dillian Whyte which is being settle by an agreed arbitration,” Warren said.
“Tyson can’t sit around and wait for that to happen, he’s going to fight and defend his Ring Magazine belt, we’ll see, but he will fight some time in March.
