Anthony Joshua has said he is “rooting for” Dillian Whyte in Saturday’s heavyweight title fight with Tyson Fury.
Whyte will look to become the first fighter to beat Fury, whose WBC belt is on the line in the main-event contest at Wembley Stadium.
Joshua knocked out Whyte in 2015, avenging an amateur loss to his fellow Briton, with whom he has shared a fierce rivalry.
After hearing that Whyte will earn around £5.5million for Saturday’s fight with Fury – and another £3m if he wins – Joshua admitted: “Even though Dillian Whyte is an enemy of mine, I’m low-key happy for him.”
The former two-time world champion later told iFL TV: “It’s a good defence against Dillian Whyte.
“Dillian Whyte needs to come in, look at what Tyson Fury does, and react to the complete opposite. Maybe work the body and be conditioned to go the distance, but I hope Dillian trains hard and doesn’t underestimate Tyson.
“Because it’s his first time fighting for a title, I think he’ll be hungry. This ain’t his 10th time fighting for a title and he can have a little hiccough along the way; this is his first time fighting for a title.
“I’m rooting for Dillian, even though I hate him and I wanna smash him one of these days. Go on, Dillian, I’m with you all the way.”
Fury’s promoter Frank Warren won the purse bid with his effort of approximately £30million, which beat the £23m put forward by Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn, who also promotes Joshua. Both were record bids in the entire history of boxing.
An 80/20 per cent purse split was agreed in favour of champion Fury, though the split only relates to 90 per cent of the overall winning bid (£27m) – because the promoter must deposit the other 10 per cent.
As such, Fury will thus take home approximately £21.5m, while Whyte receives around £5.5m. The winner will receive the 10 per cent deposit (£3m).
