There has been a lot of build-up surrounding Tyson Fury’s homecoming British bout with Dillian Whyte since the mandatory WBC fight was announced, not least regarding purse bid disagreements.
The bout - Fury 's first on home soil since 2018 - is set to take place at the Principality Stadium in Wales on March 26 but disgruntlement over payments from Whyte’s camp has cast the fight into doubt.
What's the latest?
After originally being pushed back to Wednesday 6pm, the deadline has been extended once again to Friday (January 28) in the hope a deal can be struck in time.
The news was released on crunch day at 4.30pm, just hours after Eddie Hearn confirmed Anthony Joshua has received an offer to step aside from his rematch with Usyk to free the path for a unification bout with Fury.
The offer reportedly includes the clause that he would see him take on the winner of the contest.
However, if the fight between Fury and Whyte does go ahead, it could delay - or even scupper - the chances of this taking place.
What’s been said?
There has been a heated war of words between both parties about the figures involved, even including some mention of alternative opponents.
Frank Warren, Fury’s co-promoter (via iFL TV)
"I've always said that from day one. What happens every time a boxer fights for a title, they lodge their contracts with the relevant governing body.
"The contracts that he's lodged for his last few fights; his last one was £300,000 and prior to that it was approximately £500,000.
"Tyson's last fight was £20million, so it could be nothing other than an 80-20 split, and really if you look at the money that they've earned on their last fights it shouldn't even be that - but it is what it is."
Bob Arum, Fury’s co-promoter (via talkSPORT )
“If Dillian Whyte is not gonna fight for whatever reason, obviously we’re not gonna keep Tyson Fury – not gonna make him pay the price of waiting.”
“Fury wants to fight and wants to fight sooner rather than later.
“We can look around, get a good, decent opponent for him to fight if Whyte isn’t available… You’ve got guys like Robert Helenius and Manuel Charr.
“You just look at the rankings and pick a couple of guys from the rankings who would make decent opponents.”
Eddie Hearn, Whyte’s promoter (via BBC Sport )
"People keep talking about March dates - that's starting to look unrealistic for a fight of this magnitude.
"The normal split for any mandatory challenger is a lot more than 80/20. The normal split for an interim champion is up to 45 per cent.
“We feel in terms of the commercial value of Dillian Whyte and the time he's had to wait, 80/20 is quite ridiculous really."
"[It] looks like Dillian Whyte will definitely get his shot at the WBC title, but we have to fight for his rights and make sure it's fair. It's not going to stand in the way of the fight."
Tyson Fury
“Is Whyte going to fight me? Is Joshua going to step aside? Let me know because I am sick of looking at these bums. I am sick of listening to their excuses.”
“I tell you what boys, there's some pack of cowards out there, and some pack of bull**** talkers. I'll tell you that now. [They're] making all the demands in the world, you cowards! Come and fight!”
Dillian Whyte
“I just want f***ing war, that's all I want is to go to war with the best. F*** all this he said she said bulls***.”
What does this mean for a potential Fury vs Joshua fight?
The reality is that the longer it takes for the payments to be sorted, the longer it will be before boxing enthusiasts see Fury take on Whyte.
The scheduled March 26 contest date looks increasingly ominous and will almost certainly due to be pushed back due to the length of time it’s taken to agree payments.
This in turn means that the AJ-Fury match-up may not happen any time soon.
A date or venue has not been set for Joshua-Usyk II but a settlement on Friday could prompt these to be finalised meaning that the potential dream fight that British fans have longed for will likely be pushed back even further.
