Eddie Hearn on Dillian Whyte: ‘It’s Up To Him How He Wants Me Involved; I Don’t Need a Cut’

Eddie Hearn isn’t sure if he’ll be doing more than cheering on his longtime charge Dillian Whyte from the sidelines when he faces WBC beltholder Tyson Fury in their projected title bout later this spring.

Matchroom Boxing’s Hearn, the longtime promoter of the Whyte, says it will be up to the Jamaican-born, London native whether or not Hearn will play a concrete part in his team. Hearn acknowledged that he has never had any long-term contractual ties with Whyte, so his involvement with Whyte’s next venture is somewhat up in the air. Hearn lost out on an opportunity to promote Whyte’s mandatory challenge of Fury after coming up short in a much-publicized purse bid that saw Fury’s team – Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions and Bob Arum of Top Rank – offer up nearly $9 million more ($41,025,000) to promote the bout.

“I’m not involved in the fight,” Hearn told IFL TV. “I lost the purse bid. I’m happy to not be involved in the fight. I’ll be involved in the fight in any capacity that Dillian wants me to be, because he’s a mate. We’ve backed him his whole career. That might be a little bit of advice. It might be being nearby his side during camp, I don’t know. We’ll talk to his team this week. I just want to see him win the world heavyweight championship.”

Hearn added that he has always worked with Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) on an ad-hoc basis.

“I’ve never had a contract with Dillian Whyte,” Hearn said. “I’ve been fight-by-fight his whole career, because I never felt like I needed a contract with him, because we have a good relationship.

“At the end of the day it’s up to him how he wants me involved. Obviously, I would be a massive asset to the promotion, but I’ve got a lot on my plate. I’ll help Dillian any way I can to help him prepare for the most important moment of his career.”

Hearn is making preparations to promote the heavyweight unification rematch between titlist Oleksandr Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) and Anthony Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) later this summer.

Hearn pushed back against the notion that he was losing out on a payday since he is not technically promoting Whyte in what would be the biggest fight of Whyte’s career. Although the fight is not official yet, the terms of the split – 80-20 in favor of Fury – means Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) will be guaranteed $29,538,000, while the 34-year-old Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) stands to earn $7,384,500. The winner will receive the remaining amount, $4,102,500, as a bonus.

“He doesn’t have a contract with me. He doesn’t have to give me anything,” Hearn said of Whyte. “Some promoters have no money in the bank. We don’t need the money. I saw Tyson Fury [say], ‘he’s not getting a cut.’ I don’t need a cut.”