_1635436673.jpg)
Tyson Fury will have the biggest boxing stage in England to himself Tuesday afternoon.
Bob Arum, Fury’s co-promoter, informed BoxingScene.com on Monday that Dillian Whyte won’t attend a press conference at Wembley Stadium in London, which will officially launch the promotion of their WBC heavyweight title fight April 23 at that same venue. Arum said Whyte, the mandatory challenger for Fury’s WBC belt, told Fury’s team in advance that he only plans to attend the final press conference the week of their fight.
“He will not come to the press conference,” Arum told BoxingScene.com. “We won the purse bid, which was way higher than the next biggest bid. And he’s not coming to the press conference because we wouldn’t give him a percentage of the upside [from pay-per-view sales], which you don’t get in a purse bid. He told us he won’t come to any of the press conferences except the last one.”
Fury-Whyte will be offered on pay-per-view in the United States and in the United Kingdom, which will generate additional revenue for Fury, Arum’s Top Rank Inc. and Fury’s other co-promoter, Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions. Warren won the purse bid for Fury-Whyte with a record offer of $41,025,000 on January 28.
Whyte waited until the deadline imposed by the WBC, February 21, to sign his contract for the Fury fight.
The Jamaican-born, London-based heavyweight wanted more than the 80-20 purse split that the WBC determined was fair for his shot at Fury’s title. The WBC typically splits purse bids 70-30 in favor of champions for its title fights.
Per terms of their agreement, Fury is guaranteed $29,538,000. Whyte’s guarantee is $7,384,500.
Both boxers also agreed to a win bonus of 10 percent of Warren’s whopping bid, $4,102,500.
While Whyte is a prolific trash-talker who knows how to hype his fights, Arum isn’t concerned about his absence because the undefeated Fury is a masterful promoter.
“I’d be concerned if I didn’t have on the other side, on our side, the best salesman in boxing,” Arum said. “So, who’s gonna listen to Dillian Whyte anyway? Tyson will exhaust everyone [Tuesday].”
The 6-foot-9, 276-pound Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) is listed by Caesars Sportsbook as a 6-1 favorite to beat the 6-foot-4, 247-pound Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs).
Fury, 33, will make the second defense of the WBC championship he won when he stopped Deontay Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) in the seventh round of their February 2020 bout at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The Manchester, England, native also knocked out Wilder in the 11th round of their third fight, which took place October 9 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Whyte, 34, will end a 13-month layoff when he faces Fury.
He most recently stopped Russia’s Alexander Povetkin in the fourth round of their rematch last March 27 at Europa Point Sports Complex in Gibraltar. That victory enabled Whyte to avenge a surprising fifth round knockout defeat to Povetkin (36-3-1, 25 KOs) in August 2020 at Matchroom Boxing’s headquarters in Brentwood, England.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.