Eddie Hearn says Fury vs. Whyte negotiations begin in November

By Boxing News - 10/29/2021 - Comments

By Scott Gilfoid: Eddie Hearn says he believes negotiations will start between WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte in November for a huge fight that will take place around March 2022.

Hearn doubts that Fury (31-0-1, 21 KOs) will choose to go the Franchise route, vacate his WBC title, or fight Joe Joyce instead, even though those options would be infinitely better for Fury than risking a $100 million payday fighting Whyte.

All that cash will be down the drain if Fury loses to Whyte in this title defense. Why risk all that dough in a fight that no one cares about except for Dillian and Matchroom?

It’s not worth the risk for Fury to put his mega-payday against the winner of the Oleksandr Usyk vs. Anthony Joshua 2 fight at risk by fighting the upset-minded Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs), who will have his ears pinned back looking to score a knockout.

Fury went through a grueling two-knockdown war with Deontay Wilder, and Hearn expects him to happily march into a fight that he’s not motivated for against Whyte?

It doesn’t make sense. Let’s look at it this. If there were no massive pot of gold for Fury to pick up against the winner of the Usyk vs. Joshua II fight, yeah, fighting Whyte would be a swell option. The fact is, there’s a massive $100 million pot of gold for Fury to pick up, so why does he need to fight Whyte?

It’s a no-brainer for what Fury needs to do. The intelligent options for Fury are as follows:

  • Go Franchise route
  • Toss WBC title in the nearest trash bin
  • Ask WBC for an exception to face Joe Joyce
  • Pay Whyte a step aside

Hearn thinks Fury won’t go Franchise round

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t happen,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV on the Fury vs. Whyte fight. “Tyson Fury won’t have a problem with the fight.

Image: Eddie Hearn says Fury vs. Whyte negotiations begin in November

“He’ll believe he can win the fight [against Whyte], and he’s going to fight before Joshua-Usyk or the same time as Joshua & Usyk, so he needs an opponent.

He’s going to make a huge amount of money, and he sells out a stadium and does well over a million buys on pay-per-view, international TV, etc. So unless he [Fury]  just decides, ‘I’m going to have a year off and vacate the belt.’

“They’ve already said it won’t happen [Fury choosing to be elevated to WBC Franchise champion], but what’s the point of it. As a champion, you have mandatory defenses.

“Joshua has had mandatory defenses against Carlos Takem, Alexander Povetkin, Kubrat Pulev, and Oleksandr Usyk.

“You just fight all of them. That what you do,” said Hearn in failing to realize the massive $100 million payday that Fury would be risking against Whyte.

Fury would be crazy not to go the Franchise route because there’s too much loot on the line for him to make fighting the Joshua vs. Usyk 2 winner. Why risk all that good clean cash by fighting a desperate Dillian Whyte, who will be swinging for the fences?

Eddie thinks Whyte will beat Fury

“I believe Dillian can win that fight, but Tyson Fury will also believe he can win that fight, and so will the team,” said Hearn. “You’re supposed to have fought mandatory’s.”

See, this is what I’m talking about. If Hearn is so sure that Whyte will beat Fury, that’s why he wants the fight so badly.

It doesn’t do Fury any good to fight a motivated  Whyte, especially if he’s thinking about all that dough he’ll be getting by fighting the Joshua vs. Usyk 2 winner.

If Fury were excited about fighting Whyte, it would make sense for him to make the defense, but how can he be amped up for that match when he’s got $100 million that he can scoop up against the Joshua-Usyk 2 winner?

“We just had one against Oleksandr Usyk. Some people are behaving like, ‘He [Fury] should just vacate  the belt.’ But what do you think they would have said if Joshua vacated the belt to fight Oleksandr Usyk?” said Hearn.

“Unbelievable stick and they would have called him [Joshua] a coward. So, if you’re a champion, you fight your mandatory’s, and that’s an obligation of being a champion.

“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want the belt. It’s a very strange mentality from people. ‘Well, he [Fury] don’t have to take the fight.’

“Probably because it’s an easy fight to make,” said Hearn about Bob Arum, mentioning Joe Joyce as an option for Fury’s next fight and a cheaper fight to make.

“If you say to Bob right now, ‘Does Tyson Fury have to fight Tyson Fury next?’ He would say, ‘No, he doesn’t have to do that.’

“So, he’s going to keep his options open, but he knows they’re going to have to a problem because he’s going to be ordered [by the WBC for Fury to fight Whyte].

“He’s already been ordered, but he’ll get called for negotiations. It’s a brilliant fight [Fury vs. Whyte]. You should be calling that fight,” said Hearn.

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