By Jeff Aronow: Dillian Whyte and WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury have signed their contracts for their April 23rd fight at Wembley Stadium in London, according to Sky Sports. The battle is now a done deal!
Whyte pushed it to the last day of the deadline on Monday before finally signing the contract for his mandated title shot against WBC champion Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs).
Had Whyte not signed by midnight tonight, he would have lost out on the fight and the massive $7.3 million purse.
Whyte had reportedly been bent out of shape over the 80/20 split for the fight, considering he wanted a fairer deal of 55/45, which is the norm for WBC interim champions.
Now that the Fury-Whyte contest has been signed, it remains to be seen whether Dillian, 34, will participate in the fight’s promotion by speaking during the press conferences and giving interviews to the media.
It will make Whyte look immature & resentful if he chooses not to help promote the fight, which could hurt the remainder of his career.
If other promoters are worried about setting up fights with Whyte for fear of him being passive-aggressive or pulling out of the matches, they’re going to steer away from him towards more reliable opponents.
This is an opportunity for Whyte to become a star by showing off his personality to fans that have never seen him before, and it would be a pity for him to throw that away by giving the media the silent treatment.
That’s money that Whyte wouldn’t have gotten elsewhere unless he was given a fight with Anthony Joshua, but he wasn’t free to provide him with a shot due to his plans to face Oleksandr Usyk in a rematch.
“Dillian Whyte and Tyson Fury have both signed their contracts for their WBC heavyweight title fight, Sky Sports understands,” said Sky Sports.
“The contracts have been finalized, signed, and lodged to the WBC in the closing hours of a deadline day for Fury and Whyte to reach an agreement ahead of their expected fight at Wembley in April.”
It was hard to believe that Whyte would have passed up the big payday and the chance to try and unseat Fury as the WBC champion. The two sparred years ago, and Whyte reportedly got the better of Fury during the session.
However, it’s going to be a little harder for Whyte to beat Fury to take his WBC title because he’s made many improvements in his game over the years and is looking almost unbeatable as of late.
Dillian won the vacant WBC heavyweight title three years ago, beating Oscar Rivas in a title eliminator. However, a year later, Whyte was shockingly stopped in the fifth round by 40-year-old Alexander Povetkin in August 2020 at Eddie Hearn’s childhood home in a massive mansion in Brentwood, Essex. In that defeat, Whyte lost his WBC interim title.
In March 2021, Whyte won his interim WBC title back, stopping a depleted, post-COVID-19 stricken Povetkin in the fourth round in Gibraltar.
For his part, Fury is coming off an 11th round knockout win over Deontay Wilder in their trilogy match last October in Las Vegas. That was a fight in which Fury was decked twice in the fourth round and needed to walk through fire to win.
The Fury-Whyte fight is crucial, as the contest winner will face the Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk II winner for the undisputed championship later this year. Thus far, the Joshua-Usyk fight still hasn’t been signed, but it’s believed the contest will take place in June.
“Wherever they want the fight, whenever they want the fight, I don’t care,” said Whyte to Sky Sports.
“I’ve been trying to fight him for a long time. I’ve been ready to fight him for a long time.