By Allan Fox: WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) and Dillian Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) had today’s purse bid, scheduled for June 26th, moved to this Friday, June 29th, in what will be the final time.
It’s believed that Team Fury and Whyte are buying time to complete the step aside deals. Anthony Joshua and Whyte are both receiving step aside deals so that Fury can face Oleksandr Usyk next for the undisputed heavyweight championship.
If the step aside deals are accepted by Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) and Whyte, Fury will face IBF/WBA/WBO champion Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) in the summer, according to ESPN.
Joshua is the guy who ties all this together. Without AJ stepping aside, Fury will need to face WBC mandatory Whyte next as part of their ordered fight. For his Part, Joshua would be facing Usyk in a rematch to try and win back his three lost titles from last September.
Hearn says he questions whether Joshua will agree to the step aside deal because he doesn’t care about money, and he wants to win back his three lost titles from Usyk. That’s the tricky part of all this. Joshua isn’t happy with how he fought in his 12 round decision loss to Usyk last September, and he believes he can fight much better with a different game plan in the rematch.
For that fight, Joshua trimmed down, wanting to be lighter to try and outbox Usyk. This time, Joshua is hitting the weights hard, bulking up, intending to use his size to beat the former undisputed cruiserweight champion. Usyk.
Tyson Fury on Instagram: “Eddie Hearn and Anthony Joshua have gotta be the worst businessmen in history. Today they lost $90million.”
[🎥 @Tyson_Fury] pic.twitter.com/cEDfcqOYes
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) January 26, 2022
On Monday, Joshua denied the reports of him having agreed to a $20 million step aside. However, his promoter Eddie Hearn said there is an actual step aside offer that has been made, and they’re still in talks.
It’s unclear what will happen on Friday if Joshua is still negotiating the step aside deal.
The WBC is saying that Friday is the final day for the purse bid, which means that if a deal isn’t done for Joshua to step aside by that point, Fury will either need to go through with the defense against Whyte or vacate his title.
“The World Boxing Council has received once again requests from the teams of Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte to extend the period of free negotiations,” Mauricio Sulaiman, the WBC president, said in a prepared statement on Wednesday morning. “The WBC has granted this final extension, and If there is no agreement, a purse bid will be held this coming Friday, January 28.”
It’s unknown how much of a step aside Whyte will be getting. If it’s in the $5 million range, that would be a tremendous deal for him, as he will potentially make $10 million for his title shot. If he can get an additional $5 million for waiting, that’s a win-win for him.