Tyson Fury will take 80 per cent of the fight purse if he faces Dillian Whyte in 2022.
The WBC ordered the “Gypsy King” to defend his heavyweight title against 33-year-old Whyte after making the latter the mandatory challenger following Fury’s sensational victory over Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas earlier this year.
Whyte was originally said to be demanding a 45 per cent cut but will now receive less than half of the overall totall, with Fury the significant favourite for a bout planned to take place at some point in early spring.
Now the two camps have a fortnight to agree terms for the fight, with blind bids taking place from 11 January onwards if a deal cannot be struck by then. A UK venue is likely to host the event, which would represent Fury’s first fight on home soil since 2018.
Oleksandr Usyk was the first fighter given an opportunity to negotiate with Fury’s team, but the Ukrainian was already locked into a rematch with Anthony Joshua by then, after beating the Briton in a fight at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in September.
The winner of that rematch will likely be Fury’s subsequent opponent after the bout with Whyte. Fury’s team had been considering the possibility of taking on a non-title fight against either Andy Ruiz Jr or Robert Helenius, but that option has been ended by the WBC’s ruling.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn had previously rubbished Fury’s demand of 75 per cent of the purse, telling iFL TV: “The interim champion can receive up to 45 per cent of a purse split, and I believe that the purse should be at those kinds of levels. We have seen Top Rank talking about 20 per cent to Whyte, which is outrageous.”
Whyte could potentially withdraw from the fight over the split, but if he chooses to proceed, a bout in either Manchester or Cardiff in April or May is considered most likely.