Bob Arum confirms they will keep Tyson Fury busy this year
Promoter Bob Arum has provided an important update to fight fans regarding negotiations between Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte, warning the challenger that other opponents are being considered.
WBC mandatory challenger, Whyte, remains in a long battle with the World Boxing Council regarding how long it's taken for a title shot to be presented, with the governing body ruling there would be a 80/20 purse split in Fury's favour if it goes to purse bids.
Whyte's camp have been asking for far more, as they were pushing for a unrealistic 55/45 split in Fury's favour, and are looking to contest the WBC's ruling.
That has unfortunately seen purse bids delayed, which were initially due to take place last week, and will now take place on Tuesday, January 18 – but Fury's American promoter Arum is hopeful of an outcome before it reaches that stage.
“I think unless an agreement is reached with Dillian Whyte, it [the purse bid] will go ahead sometime in the coming week," he told TalkSport.
“Maybe not on Tuesday, maybe on Friday, but there it is. The WBC has decreed that Whyte will get 20 per cent of the purse bid and if the purse bid goes ahead, we’ll figure out what that 20 per cent comes to.
“I’m always optimistic that a deal gets done before the purse bid. I don’t think a purse bid does anybody any good. I think the parties should sit down, there’s plenty of money involved, and just work out a normal deal. Obviously there’s talks to try and settle the matter so it goes ahead without purse bids.”
Arum also served a warning to Whyte, making it clear that they will not wait for him and are pushing to keep Fury active, with a number of potential opponents being lined up, such as Andy Ruiz Jr.
“If Dillian Whyte is not gonna fight for whatever reason, obviously we’re not gonna keep Tyson Fury, not gonna make him pay the price of waiting.
“Fury wants to fight and wants to fight sooner rather than later. We can look around, get a good, decent opponent for him to fight if Whyte isn’t available. You’ve got guys like Robert Helenius and Manuel Charr.
“You just look at the rankings and pick a couple of guys from the rankings who would make decent opponents.”
HÖRFA are proud sponsors of British Boxing News