By Craig Daly: Eddie Hearn says Anthony Joshua has removed the rematch clause in the contract for the summer tune-up fight against Dillian Whyte on August 12th, but he still doesn’t believe it will be signed by the ‘Body Snatcher.’
It’s unclear why Hearn & Joshua are choosing to indulge Whyte any further, as it’s a pointless fight that the UK public doesn’t wish to see.
Even with Joshua removing the last obstacle to getting the fight done, Hearn thinks Whyte won’t sign. Hearn says there’s no deadline for Dillian to sign the contract, but they need to have the fight announced by this Saturday. That means there is a deadline.
If Whyte chooses to agree to the deal, Hearn says he has a couple of other options for Joshua to face on August 12th, and he’ll proceed to move in that direction. He can’t afford to waste any more time with Dillian, who seems to be in denial about B-side status, believing that he has more pull than he actually does.
According to Hearn, he was told by the 35-year-old Whyte last night that he won’t do any promotion for the Joshua event in August. This is the same thing we saw with Whyte in his fight with WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury last year.
Dillian chose not to help promote the fight, but fortunately, Fury had the verbal skills to singlehandedly market the contest to make it a success.
Hearn states Joshua (25-3, 22 KOs) told him last night to remove the rematch clause from the contract for his August 12 fight against Whyte due to Dillian rejecting the deal because he wants to be able to move on if he wins to face Deontay Wilder in December in Saudi Arabia.
Dillian doesn’t know that the Saudis don’t want him for their event in December. They only want Joshua because they need to market the event, and they can’t do that with Whyte (29-3, 19 KOs). He’s NOT a big name worldwide. If Whyte beats Joshua, he won’t step into his place for the Saudi’s card in December.
“Anthony Joshua is about to fight Deontay Wilder for 50 or 60 million dollars. He’s choosing to take a dangerous fight a few months before where if he loses, he’s really quite out in the wilderness and loses the Wilder fight in December,” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing Social about the Anthony Joshua vs. Dillian Whyte negotiations.
“Against my advice, Anthony Joshua came out last night and said, ‘I don’t give a f**k about the rematch clause. I’m going to knock him out. So just tell him to sign the contract.’
“Dillian Whyte replied and said I’m not going to do any promotion around the event. I don’t want a rematch clause.’ I don’t think they’re going to sign it,” said Hearn.
The average fan doesn’t understand why Hearn wants Whyte so much for the Joshua rematch, as many heavyweights are far more preferable.
Jared Anderson or Filip Hrgovic would be a much better option for Joshua to fight on August 12th than the Chisora-esque Whyte, who looks washed up at this late stage of his career.
