By Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn wants Dillian Whyte’s next fight to be against either Andy Ruiz Jr or Deontay Wilder in the U.S this summer, but he’s not interested in a trilogy with Alexander Povetkin.
Hearn believes that a fight between former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Ruiz (33-2, 22 KOs) and Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) or a Wilder-Whyte fight would be massive.
If he can’t get Wilder or Ruiz to agree to fight Whyte, Hearn said he would try and put a fight together with WBA regular heavyweight champion Trevor Bryan.
With that said, Hearn isn’t ready to say that former WBC champion Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) would get the bigger split against Whyte.
Rather than admitting that Wilder would deserve the bigger split, Hearn danced around the subject, saying there’s too much emphasis on what “the other guy” is getting.
Hearn uses the argument that neither Wilder nor Whyte are world champions when he discusses the idea of whether Deontay should have a bigger split.
In the end, it sounded like Hearn would have zero luck in negotiating a fight between Deontay and Whyte.
For that matter, he’ll have equally poor luck in making a fight between Whyte and Ruiz.
Hearn not interested in Whyte vs. Povetkin 3
Whyte told Povetkin (36-3-1, 25 KOs) after the fight last Saturday that he would give him a trilogy match if he wanted one. Unfortunately, Hearn doesn’t sound like he wants to follow along with what Whyte said.
Povetkin had agreed to give Whyte a rematch after he knocked him out in the fifth round last year at the Matchroom Fight camp.
The former WBA heavyweight champion Povetkin didn’t have to do that, but he did anyway. So what Hearn is saying that he’s not going to let Povetkin avenge his loss in a rubber match. That isn’t very reassuring to hear because Povetkin rates a rematch after giving Whyte one.
“He’s achieved so much in the sport, and he’s been in some tremendous fights,” said Eddie Hearn to AK & Barak Show about Povetkin.
“He can’t win a world championship now, and I think that’s the only thing Povetkin is in the game for.
“He’s got a lot of money, and he’s got some great memories of historical fight nights. But I don’t think he wants to be in there trying to work his way back to a world championship, so I think that’ll probably be it for him now.
“He’s a very tough man an honorable man. He gave us a scare at Fight camp, but luckily we got the win on Saturday and ended that process,” said Hearn.
Eddie talks Wilder vs. Whyte purse split
It doesn’t matter if Wilder and Whyte are in the same boat right now as far as them not being world champions. Wilder is the more popular of the two, and that’s not going to change.
What Hearn isn’t saying is belts don’t matter in boxing. What matters is popularity, and Wilder is a lot more popular than Whyte, who is only known in the UK.
He has no fan base in the U.S, and he’s an unknown. Whyte could literally walk down the street in every major city in the U.S, and he’d not be recognized.
You can’t do that with Wilder without him being swamped by boxing fans, both in the U.S and the UK.
“Both guys aren’t champions, are they?” said Hearn when asked if Wilder should get more than a 50-50 split if he were to fight Dillian Whyte.
“So there’s no ruling for what the split should be. I think you should always worry about what you’ll get.
“It doesn’t mean that you should do a deal where someone gets more than what you think they should, but you should already worry about what you’ll get.
“If you believe it’s the right fight for you and you believe you can win, as long as your happy with what you’ll get, don’t worry about what he’ll get too much.
“There’s too much worry bout what he’ll get. No, no, no. Can you win the fight? Is it the right fight for your career? Can you move on from here, are you happy with this amount of money?
“Do you believe you can win the fight? There’s too much concern about what the other persons are getting,” Hearn said.
Hearn wants to work out a deal for Wilder-Whyte
It sounds like Hearn will get nowhere fast if he puts effort into putting a fight together between Whyte and Wilder. He’s better off trying to put a match together with Trevor Bryan because that’s someone that Hearn can likely negotiate a deal with.
Bryan is the secondary WBA champion, and Hearn can probably make a deal with him.
“Of course, Deontay Wilder is a huge name in America now after those two fights with Fury,” said Hearn. “He’s also a big name in the UK.
“I haven’t really thought about the split. I would just work with the money and say, ‘Guys, this is what I think is in the fight.
“We can work out a deal. Who knows? We need to see Deontay Wilder back in the ring.
“I want to see that, and I think he’s great for the sport. And I think the division would be a better place with him in it, so let’s see him get active.
“Dillian has had such a long run of tough fights. I would like to see him come to the states in the summer and have a fight.
“Whether that’s Trevor Bryan or another American heavyweight to make a mark here. I think Deontay Wilder and I think the Andy Ruiz fight is tremendous as well for Dillian Whyte.
“Dillian Whyte is one of those guys that you can match him against anyone and he’s always exciting.
“He’s never been in a dull fight, and I just feel that Wilder-Whyte is a barnburner, I really do. I think it’s an absolutely thrilling fight. I’m not sure they’d make it to the ring, but it would be a lot of fun,” said Hearn.