Eddie Hearn to appeal WBC’s ruling of 80/20 split for Tyson Fury vs. Dillian Whyte

By Boxing News - 01/07/2022 - Comments

By Jack Tiernan: Eddie Hearn revealed on Friday that Matchroom plans on appealing the WBC’s recent ruling of an 80/20 purse split for the Tyson Fury vs. Dillian Whyte fight with the World Boxing Council and arbitration hearing.

Hearn and Whyte want a 55/45 split for the fight, and they’re going to continue to push for that fight. If they get their way, WBC mandatory Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) will make a massive purse for the contest with heavyweight champion Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs).

For example, if the overall amount of money for the Fury-Whyte fight is $40 million, Whyte would walk away with potentially $18 million with a 55/45 split, which is well above the $5.5 million that was recently offered to him by Fury’s promoters at Top Rank.

Arum complained that Whyte wanted to start the negotiations at $10 million for his purse for the Fury fight. Considering how much Whyte potentially can make with a 55/45 split, he would be selling himself short by agreeing to $10M.

If we’re talking about a $50 million pot for the Fury-Whyte fight, Dillian will go home with $22.5 million. That’s not bad for a fighter who was knocked out cold by 41-year-old Alexander Povetkin in 2020 and whose opponent before that was 39-year-old Mariusz Wach. Whyte has fought mainly older fighters since 2019.

Fury could vacate WBC title

It’s questionable whether Fury will choose to keep his WBC title if Hearn’s appeal with the WBC and arbitrators is successful.

Fury can get a lopsided 90/10 split fighting anyone while he waits for the smoke to clear from the Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk rematch in April.

The only questionable thing is whether Fury’s purse would be as big fighting someone like Andy Ruiz Jr. or Robert Helenius as it would defending against Whyte with a 55/45 purse split.

One big negative about Fury fighting Whyte is the risk involved. Whyte can punch, and he might get lucky and score a knockout of the 33-year-0ld Fury.

We saw Fury get dropped twice in his last fight against Deontay Wilder, and his punch resistance may be decreasing due to the wear & tear.

It’s no secret that the new style of fighting that Fury has adopted under the Kronk Gym trained SugarHill Steward has resulted in him getting hit a lot more than he ever did previously in his fights.

Hearn intends on winning purse bid

“If we win this purse bid, Tyson Fury against Dillian Whyte will be when we say it will,” said Eddie Hearn to Talksport in reacting to the news of promoter Frank Warren saying that Fury will be fighting on March 26th.

Image: Eddie Hearn to appeal WBC's ruling of 80/20 split for Tyson Fury vs. Dillian Whyte

“There’s a lot going on with the arbitration and the legal case,” Hearn continued. “Dillian wants his shot and deserves his shot. He should be getting his fight with Tyson Fury.

“We’ll see how that unfolds. It’s a great fight. There’s no reason why that fight shouldn’t take place. It generates a huge amount of money, and we’ll see what ensues over the next couple of days,” said Hearn of the Fury vs. Whyte fight.

“Not really a huge amount of negotiations because obviously there’s a ruling with the WBC with the 80/20 split [in favor of Fury]. We don’t agree with that, and we don’t feel like we should accept that.

“That will be appealed against via the WBC via the arbitration or via the legal process, and until that ruling is made, we’ll see where we’re at. If that’s the final ruling and we have to go to purse bids for that fight, we’ll bid what we believe the value of that fight is.

“Clearly right now, we have a very different assessment of that value than other people according to the bids and offers that have been made to Dillian Whyte,” said Hearn.

“March and April for these fights, you’re within two or three weeks max of having to unveil the schedule for March and April. We just announced the schedule up to the month of March today. So I would expect heavyweight news to be dropped in the next few weeks,” said Hearn.

It’ll be surprising if the WBC changes their mind on the purse split for the Fury vs. Whyte fight. For the purse split to be changed, it’ll require the arbitrators to move it upwards towards the 55/45 split that Hearn and Whyte want for the fight.

If the split stays where it’s at, with Fury getting 80%, Whyte will need to focus on winning the fight and turning the tables in a rematch with a split in his favor.

Fury’s promoters want the 80/20 split because he made $20 million for his last fight against Deontay Wilder compared to the $300,000 that Dillian got for his rematch with Alexander Povetkin.

Based on the differences between what Fury and Whyte made for their last fights, the split should be wider at 90/10, not 80/20.