By Charles Brun: Tyson Fury tore into Dillian Whyte on social media on Tuesday, calling him “White feathers” due to his silence since his promoters at Matchroom Boxing lost the purse bid last Friday.
It would be a good idea for Team Fury to begin looking for a replacement for Whyte just in case he chooses to pull out of the fight at some point in the next two months.
Bob Arum of Top Rank might need to start thinking about a Plan-B just in case Whyte pulls out.
WBC mandatory challenger Whyte and his promoter Eddie Hearn’s silence in his fight against WBC heavyweight champion Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) has some people believing that they’re not going to go through with it and will pull out.
Whyte obviously must show up at the press conferences and weigh-in for the fight with the 33-year-old Fury, but he could choose not to speak and fowl things up in promoting the affair. With Whyte’s $8 million purses guaranteed, he doesn’t need to work for the money.
That’s the problem. If Whyte’s purse were tied into the event’s promotion, he likely would be talking right now to the media. Of course, that’s assuming he’s not planning on pulling out for one reason or another.
Fury sends a message to Whyte
“This is a message for Dillian Whyte,” Fury said on Twitter. “White Feathers, coward – where are you White Feathers! You wanted your world title shot with Wilder for three years; you never got it.
It’s this lot vs me.
Such a funny time for me they lost it at the last minute pic.twitter.com/NijZGNymJo
— TYSON FURY (@Tyson_Fury) February 1, 2022
“You was mandatory for me for three minutes, and you got your fight, didn’t you, coward? ‘Tyson Fury’s a coward; he doesn’t want to fight Dillian Whyte!’ But all of a sudden, you are on your toes, and you’ve gone silent, you little b***! Come out, come out of hiding, White Feathers! Come and get it; you’re getting a good hiding.
“You wanted a bit of free money, didn’t you, dosser? But now you’re getting $8 million, which is $7-and-a-half too much for you, you old dosser. Come out and say something, bum!”
If Dillian has a flare-up with the shoulder problem that caused him to pull out of his October fight with Otto Wallin, Team Fury will be left high and dry.
Fury vs. Whyte event could lose money
If Whyte chooses to stay silent throughout the promotion of the Fury clash, which is expected to take place on April 23rd, it’s likely going to impact the PPV numbers badly. That’ll hurt Fury’s promoters, who won the purse bid with a $41 million sum.
If you’re one of the two investors that bankrolled the vast $41M purse bid last Friday, you’ve got to be more than a little concerned about Whyte’s silence.
Even under ideal circumstances, it will be challenging to break even with the $41M that the investors are paying for the enormous purses. Fury-Whyte is a good UK fight, but it doesn’t register elsewhere, and it’s NOT the match-up that boxing fans wanted to see.
They wanted to see Fury face IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksander Usyk for the undisputed championship, and then the winner to face Anthony Joshua.
Instead, they’re stuck with Fury fighting Whyte, a guy that just pulled out of his last fight against Otto Wallin with a shoulder injury.
Many boxing fans were highly skeptical about Whyte’s shoulder injury, as they think he got worried that he might lose the fight and then miss out on his big payday against Fury.
Like I said, if Whyte chooses to stay silent throughout the promotion, it will hurt the PPV sales because there won’t be any buzz about the fight.
Many boxing fans will wonder whether Whyte will show up on fight night until the last moment. Fans won’t order the Fury-Whyte fight if they have concerns about whether Whyte will pull out of the contest.
Assuming Whyte’s silence is an example of what we’re going to see throughout the promotion, Team Fury will need someone from Dillian’s team to help him promote the fight.
