Via Scott Gilfoid: WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury is on the moon to reveal the news that his co-promoter Frank Warren won Friday’s purse bid with a 41 million dollars to defend his title against mandatory Dillian Whyte. The fight will take place in April at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
The fight will be shown on BT Sport PPV in the UK. Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing has second highest bid is $32 million.
The $41 million winning bid will be split with Fury getting the lion’s share at $32.8 million and Whyte $8.2 million.
In the US, the match between Fury vs. Whyte is scheduled to be shown on ESPN. It’s unclear if it will be shown on pay-per-view in the US. If so, it may not bring in more than a few buys from heavyweight boxing fans. It’s hard to imagine paying to see Fury vs Whyte, since it’s not a great fight.
If one could erase the image of Whyte being knocked unconscious by Alexander Povetkin, 40, in 2020, paying to watch Fury fight Dillian on PPV would be a sensible idea.
But since Whyte has only fought once since losing KO to Povetkin’s recently rehabilitated version of COVID-19, it’s impossible to get excited about the Fury-Whyte battle.
Povetkin looked like a zombie when he entered the ring last March to face Whyte in a rematch after his recent bout with COVID. That flu drained Povetkin, leaving an empty shell that Whyte hit around the ring like a baseball.
Fury is not a PPV fighter in the US, and Whyte, of course, is not. In order for Fury to be sold in the US, he needs to fight Deontay Wilder or Anthony Joshua. Whyte is not a big enough name to auction PPV in the US.
However, with Americans Gervonta Davis and Keith Thurman engaging in fights that aren’t PPV-worthy in terms of pay-per-view in the US, it’s very likely Fury vs. Whyte will end up on PPV in the US.
If Eddie Hearn wins today’s purse auction, he also has plans to hold the fight at the end of April in the UK. As such, there is no real chance that Warren will win the bid instead of Hearn.
It will be in the same month and general region of the world. Although Fury vs. Whyte is a big match for England fans, but it’s clearly not big enough to attract attention from the Middle East to host the fight there.
If there’s an offer to put the war in the Middle East, that’s where it’s likely to head.
Fury (31-0-1, 21 KOs) called his bout against the 34-year-old who twice knocked Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) the biggest in the UK since Lennox Lewis vs Frank Bruno in 1993.
“I’m going home baby. Get ready for the biggest British attackince Lennox Lewis vs Frank Bruno. History is being made,” Fury said of his fight with Whyte.
Lewis-Bruno is a big deal for British fans, but not for Americans, who have seen Bruno being ignited by Mike Tyson, James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith and Tim Witherspoon.
CANNOT WAIT!!! COMING HOME pic.twitter.com/zXFQgvK3LT
– TYSON FURY (@Tyson_Fury) January 28, 2022
With all the fuss that Whyte has been doing for the past four years about not being awarded the title of world champion, it will be good to see him finally stop being cranky.
Whyte needs to make the most of his title shot as he may not get another chance. Next time Whyte tries to be mandatory, he’ll have to go up against quality heavyweights to get to that spot. He couldn’t count on obtaining an obligatory item by defeating unrelated relics from a bygone era.
🇬🇧 @Tyson_Fury 🆚 @DillianWhyte 🏆
Talk time is over! After years of coming back, the heavyweight showdown is on! 🔥
Begin!#FuryWhyte | BT Sport Box Office pic.twitter.com/1Ox0XQNWRn
– Boxing on BT Sport (@BTSportBoxing) January 28, 2022
