By Scott Gilfoid: Earlier today Eddie Hearn came out and denied the rumor of him luring Dillian Whyte away from Tyson Fury that he was mandated to fight to face instead Dereck Chisora or Anthony Joshua on DAZN.
The other part of the rumor was that Hearn didn’t want Joshua or Whyte’s brand to be damaged in potential defeats against Oleksander Usyk and Fury, which would have hurt their popularity for the DAZN app.
If Whyte gets beaten up by Fury, his brand will be damaged, won’t it? I mean, how will it not be damaged by a crushing loss to Fury?
Anyway, Hearn is saying the rumor isn’t true, and that Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) would have never given up his dream to fight for the WBC title that he’s been waiting for since 2019.
Hearn didn’t mention whether Whyte will sulk the entire promotion, refusing to speak to get back at Fury’spromoters for sticking him with the 80/20 purse split.
I can only imagine how strange the press conferences will be if Fury is the only one talking, and Whyte just sitting there like a potted plant.
“Total and utter bollox. There’s never been a conversation about a fight with AJ and there’s never been a fight with Dereck Chisora. Just Tyson Fury against Dillian Whyte,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV about the rumored backup plan that Eddie had to lure Whyte away from his fight with Tyson Fury.
“Just because Dillian is f**** with them and winding them all up and not coming out and screaming & shouting doesn’t mean that ‘He’s hiding.’ No, he’s working away in Portugal to win this fight,” said Hearn.
I hate to say it but Hearn would have been better off if he had lured Whyte away with a fight against Joshua. Look at it this way. Joshua’s career would save his career fighting Whyte because he’s someone he can probably still beat.
For his part, Whyte would make a lot of dough fighting Joshua, and losing to him would be less embarrassing than it will against Fury.
Hearn mentioned Whyte waiting for “1,200 days,” but he’s counting the time Dillian was ranked #1 and not the time in which he was mandatory.
“What part of that conversation did you not listen to?” said Hearn when asked if there was an alternative route for Whyte from his side for him to take to bail out of the Fury fight.
“Are you that bored of talking to me that I’ve just gone on? Let’s just go back two minutes. Absolute bollox. Absolutely no way.
“Not even, ‘Oh yeah, you’ve got a shot at Tyson Fury for the WBC world title.’ ‘Why don’t we not take that and take a 10-rounder.’ What planet do people live on?
“So, no. Once a proper contract was presented, not even a proper contract, in the end, a contract he ultimately had to sign was presented and it got signed,” Hearn said about Whyte signing for the Fury fight.
“Dillian Whyte is never a guy that is going to bow down to people and do what he’s told for stuff that’s not in his best interest.
“Do you know how long he’s waited for a shot at the WBC world title? What is it? 1,200 days, four years? You are mad,” said Hearn.