By Jack Tiernan: WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury’s purse bid for his mandatory defense against Dillian Whyte has been moved from January 11th to the 17th or 18th of this month.
The process has slowed down due to Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) still being involved in a legal case with the WBC, which is still ongoing over his mandatory spot.
It’s unknown when Whyte’s arbitration case will be completed, but Fury and his team have made it clear that they intend on fighting on March 26th.
Recently the World Boxing Council ruled that Whyte was entitled to 20% of the pie for a fight with Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs), and that’s the number that Top Rank had asked. They went by the two fighters’ recent purses for their last fights.
Fury made $20 million for his last fight against Deontay Wilder, whereas Whyte’s purse was far smaller at $300,000 in his rematch with 41-year-old post-COVID Alexander Povetkin last March in Gibraltar. Based on the enormous differences in purses, you can argue that 80/20 is a fair split, given that 300K is 15% of $20 million.
Whyte wants a 55/45 split, which would see him receive a far bigger purse than the 80/20 that the WBC has ruled. With that purse, Whyte could get $22.5 million for a $50 million pot for the Fury fight. That’s a lot of money for a fighter whose best win of his career came against the old-timer Povetkin.
Ultimately, if Whyte does get his way with the WBC giving him the 55/45 split that he’s asking for, Fury will likely vacate his title rather than agreeing to that.
That would mean that Whyte would either be elevated to WBC champion or be ordered to face the highest-ranking contender willing to meet him. Whyte would still make a lot of money eventually, assuming he captures the WBC title.
He wouldn’t get the fight with Fury, and he’d be missing out on a chance of a nice payday. A win over Fury is what Whyte needs to increase his purse for a match against the Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk winner.
We don’t know the ultimate pot for the Fury-Whyte fight, as it’s an odd bird. While Dillian is a household name in the UK, he’s virtually an unknown to the U.S boxing public.
Yeah, hardcore fans know of Whyte in the United States, but not casuals. Fury would be the one that American fans would be tuning in to see, while Dillian would be the cardboard prop, a guy brought in as the opponent.
Top Rank boss Bob Arum previously offered Whyte $5.5 million for the Fury fight. That number will make sense if the contest brings in only $30 million if the split is 80/20.
“The purse bids will be seven days after. Next Monday [January 17] or Tuesday [January 18],” said Frank Warren to TalkSport on the Fury vs. Whyte purse bid. “They’re entitled to appeal [the split]. They can make their appeal. I don’t think it’s going to make any difference.
“I don’t think they’ll get anywhere because when you get these situations, the purse bids are based upon boxers’ previous earnings,” said Warren.
“When Canelo Alvarez’s mandatory at the time was going to be Billy Joe Saunders, we just did a deal.
“There was no way he was going to get 45 percent because the guy who generates the most money out of the two of them is Canelo.
“When you’ve got a heavyweight who’s generating the money Tyson’s generating, it was a split of 80/20,” said Warren.
What Warren says makes sense. There’s no way that Canelo would have ever agreed to let Saunders get 45%, and Whyte is in the same boat. Fury will never agree to that even if the WBC gives orders makes that the number.