Via Scott Gilfoid: Eddie Hearn today confirmed that Dillian Whyte will fight WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury even though he has been silent because Matchroom lost his case.
Hearn insists they haven’t had a conversation with Whyte (28-2-, 19 KOs) about him going in a different direction. This is the fight they want against Fury.
As for Whyte’s silence, Hearn says it’s good to use that with Fury sometimes because you don’t waste energy with back-and-forth talks. What Hearn didn’t say was whether Whyte would cooperate with Fury’s fight.
If Whyte will stay silent throughout the promotion because he didn’t get the 55/45 wallet split he wanted instead of 80/20, it will affect Fury’s promoters, who have placed a huge bid of $41 million.
Even if Whyte assisted in promoting the fight, it’s likely the event wouldn’t bring $41 million to break even.
If Whyte chose not to help promote the event, it would hurt Fury’s promoters but do nothing about Matchroom, as they lost.
With Whyte’s $8 million wallet secured, he can do whatever he wants in terms of advertising support. If he chooses to play passive-aggressivehe can and does mess things up for Fury’s team.
What is not clear is what Team Fury will do if Whyte chooses not to promote the event. Do they then assume that their wallet has to pay to save money, assuming the war won’t earn back the money they put into it? If so, Matchroom will take over as the promoter for the event, provided they have the next highest bid of $32 million.
It will hurt Whyte in the end as he will make less money, but if Matchroom is willing to make a difference, then Dillian will be happy.
What will be a real nightmare for Whyte and Matchroom when Fury promoters default to their bids. It will leave it to Matchroom to promote the event. Fury could then vacate his WBC title, which would leave Whyte and Matchroom vying for an opponent for the vacated WBC title.
Whyte will likely end up with Luis Ortiz, a fighter he chose not to fight in a WBC-ordered title elimination match in 2018. It would be a 50-50 fight, and it wouldn’t be surprising. if 43-year-old Ortiz had knocked Whyte down like 40-year-old Alexander Povetkin did in 2020.
“Sure, he’s just training,” Eddie Hearn said Time MMA when asked if Dillian Whyte will fight Tyson Fury. “I think there is a way to deal with Fury.
“I think sometimes go for the personal quiet side [the way to go]. Do you really want to go into a tight fight with Tyson Fury and lose all your energy like that? Do your thing, do your training and go and beat him.
“This is a shot he’s been working on for a long time,” Hearn said of Whyte. “There’s no conversation going on between us right now, ‘Oh, should we go the other way?’ There is no other direction. This is the fight,” Hearn said on Whyte wanted the title against Fury.
“No, it’s the business,” Hearn said of whether he feels bitter about losing his wallet. “The moment you start acting on your ego, that’s the moment you make a fatal mistake that could cost you millions and millions of dollars.
“The fact that we were even there means that Dillian got the money [$8 million] because we come in and they say, ‘S***, Matchroom is here.’ If we didn’t show up, they would bid five million dollars, ten million dollars because of them [Top Rank] will be the sole bidder.
“When it comes down to it, two contractors. All the others were so interested in the war, where did they put their money? They don’t have the money,” Hearn said.
