Via Jack Tiernan: Eddie Hearn revealed Friday that Matchroom plans to appeal the WBC’s recent ruling on an 80/20 split between Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte’s fight with the World Boxing Council and a hearing. referee.
Hearn and Whyte want a 55/45 split for the fight and they will continue to push for that fight. If they win their way, WBC-mandated Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) will make big money for the contest with heavyweight champion Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs).
For example, if the total for the Fury-Whyte fight was $40 million, Whyte would walk away with the possibility 18 million dollars with a 55/45 split, much higher than 5.5 million dollars was recently offered to him by Fury’s promoters at Top Rated.
Arum complained that Whyte wanted to start negotiations for $10 million for his wallet for the Fury fight. Considering how much Whyte could make with a 55/45 split, he would go short by agreeing to $10 million.
If we were talking about $50 million for the Fury-Whyte fight, Dillian would go home with 22.5 million dollars. That’s not bad for a boxer knocked down by a 41-year-old tennis player. Alexander Povetkin in 2020 and the previous opponent’s opponent was 39 years old Mariusz Wach. Whyte has been fighting mostly older fighters since 2019.
Fury may vacate the WBC title
The issue is whether Fury will choose to keep his WBC belt if Hearn’s appeal to the WBC and the referee is successful.
Fury can be deflected 90/10 split fight anyone while he waits for the smoke to clear from the Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk in April.
The only question is whether Fury’s pocketbook is as big as when fighting someone like Andy Ruiz Jr. or Robert Helenius as it will defend against Whyte with a 55/45 split.
One big negative about Fury fighting Whyte is the risk involved. Whyte can punch, and he might get lucky and score the 33-year-old Fury.
We saw Fury get dropped twice in his final bout against Deontay Wilder, and his punch resistance may be decreasing due to wear and tear.
It’s no secret that the new fighting style Fury adopted under SugarHill Steward’s training in the Kronk gym got him hit more than he’d ever done before in his fights.
Hearn intends on winning bids in the wallet
Eddie Hearn said: “If we win this bid, then so will Tyson Fury against Dillian Whyte. Talksport in response to promoter Frank Warren’s news that Fury will fight on March 26.
“There’s a lot going on with arbitration and legal cases,” Hearn continued. “Dillian wants his shot and deserves his shot. He should fight Tyson Fury.
“We’ll see how that plays out. It was a great fight. There’s no reason why that war shouldn’t take place. It generates a huge amount of money and we’ll see what happens over the next few days,” Heart of the Fury vs. Whyte said.
“Not really a huge amount of negotiations because obviously there is a settlement with the WBC in an 80/20 split. [in favor of Fury]. We don’t agree with that, and we don’t feel we should accept it.
“That will be appealed by the WBC through arbitration or through legal process, and until that is rendered we will see where we are. If it is final and we have to pay the price for that war, we will pay what we believe the value of that fight.
“Clearly right now, we have a very different assessment of that value than others by the bid and offer for Dillian Whyte,” Hearn said.
“March and April for these battles, you have within two or three weeks at most you have to announce the schedule for March and April. We just announced the schedule up to March today. So I expect the heavy news to ease over the next few weeks,” Hearn said.
It would be surprising if the WBC changed its mind about the split for the Fury vs Whyte fight. For the purse split to be changed, it would require the umpires to move it upwards in the direction of the 55/45 split that Hearn and Whyte wanted for the fight.
If the fight remains in place, with Fury at 80%, Whyte will need to focus on winning the skirmish and turning the tide in a rematch with the split in his favor.
Fury backers want 80/20 split because he made $20 million for his final fight against Deontay Wilder compared with the $300,000 Dillian received for his rematch with Alexander Povetkin.
Based on the difference between what Fury and Whyte made for their final fight, the split would be wider at 90/10, not 80/20.
