Tyson Fury Could Be Allowed To Skip His Title Defence Against Dillian Whyte Amid Claims 'The Body Snatcher' Is Demanding £7.5m

Dillian Whyte’s “greedy” purse demands could cost him his title fight against Tyson Fury, according to promoter Bob Arum.

Whyte, 33, was named as the mandatory challenger for Fury’s WBC heavyweight belt after beating Alexander Povetkin in their rematch in March.

Whyte and Fury were expected to face each other in a highly-anticipated all-British clash in early 2022.

Fury successfully defended his WBC heavyweight title against Deontay Wilder in October (Image: Alamy)

However, negotiations have stalled over the fight with Fury’s US promoter Arum now claiming that Whyte's camp is demanding up to £7.5m for the bout.

The Top Rank founder told iFL TV: “They want $10m (£7.5m) but we want to guarantee them $5.5m (£4.1m) plus a percentage.

“But they said ‘you have to start at eight figures, you have to start at 10 million’.

“They are being very greedy, especially in the age of the pandemic where you don’t really know how many fans or what gate you are going to get.

“We spoke to Mauricio Sulaiman at the WBC and he said ‘it breaks my heart but go and find another opponent, fight without the WBC title - we will not take it away from you'.

Whyte is the mandatory challenger for Fury's WBC belt (Image: Alamy)

“Dillian Whyte’s people should come to the table and make the deal to fight Tyson Fury but that is not likely to happen.

“It looks like they are going to play out the arbitration and Frank Warren [Fury’s UK promoter] and I are going to find another opponent".

Former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr and Finland’s Robert Helenius have been touted as potential options for Fury if negotiations break down with Whyte.

Fury could instead face Andy Ruiz Jr (pictured left) or Robert Helenius, according to Arum (Image: Alamy)

However, The Sun claims that Ruiz is unlikely to take the fight unless the WBC belt is on the line.

"Frank Warren and I are looking for another opponent to do Fury's fight in Manchester or in Las Vegas, depending on who the opponent is,” Arum added.

"So we're looking at Andy Ruiz as a possibility, he's available.

"This big Finnish kid, who looked very good on the semi-wind up on the Fury - Wilder card, Helenius, big, big Finnish kid, who can really fight.

Fury's US promoter Arum (right) has labelled Whyte "greedy" for his purse demands (Image: Alamy)

"Those are the two principal guys. I guess if it's Helenius we do it in the UK and if it was Ruiz, we do the fight in Las Vegas."

Whyte is yet to fight for a world title despite beating a number of high-profile opponents in recent years.

The Brixton fighter reportedly turned down a £5m offer to face former WBA, WBO and IBF world champion Anthony Joshua in 2019, shortly before 'AJ' suffered a shock defeat to Ruiz at Madison Square Garden.

Topics: Boxing, Heavyweight Boxing, Tyson Fury, Dillian Whyte, Bob Arum

Rory O'Callaghan

Rory O'Callaghan is Editorial Lead at SPORTbible. He has previously worked for Sky Sports News, MailOnline and Reach covering football, cricket, boxing and MMA. Tested daily as a Liverpool fan in a Manchester office.

@rory_ocallaghan