There’s growing concern among fans that Dillian Whyte will intentionally drag his feet and be passive-aggressive when it comes to helping to promote his April 23rd fight against WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
Despite Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) being expected to get close to $8 million for his purse, it’s believed that he’ll do the minimal to help promote the fight out of unhappiness at the 80-20 purse split in Fury’s favor.
As of today, Fury is already working to help promote the fight by posting on social media, showing that he will be working hard to make the promotion a success.
Fury’s promoters paid $41 million for the winning bid last Friday at the purse bid. With that kind of money, the fight will need to do well for him to make their money back. If Fury is going to be singlehandedly doing all the promotional work, it could limit the success.
American boxing fans aren’t familiar with Whyte, as he’s not fought in the States. Some U.S fans’ only experience with seeing Whyte fight was when 40-year-old Alexander Povetkin knocked him out in 2020, and they’re not enthused as seeing him as the opponent for Fury on ESPN PPV.
Warren expects Dillian to behave professionally
Given that Top Rank will be selling the Fury-Whyte fight on PPV, it’s essential that Whyte help out with the promotion and not pout.
“We were very confident our bid would secure the fight, which it did by bine million dollars. We made sure we would win it,” said Frank Warren to iFL TV on his side, winning the Fury-Whyte purse bid last Friday.
“This fight [Fury vs. Whyte] is one. We’ll be revealing the date and the venue next week. It’ll be a stadium somewhere in the world. Dillian has got a massive purse. If Matchroom had won [the purse bid], he’d be getting two million dollars less.
“What Matchroom can say on social media is they lost the purse bid. There’s nothing else they can say. They’re not involved in it. They’re out of the picture.
“As far as Dillian is concerned, I have no idea,” said Warren when asked why Whyte isn’t speaking to the media on posting on social media since Fury’s team won the purse bid last Friday.
“I expect him to behave professionally and help him promote the promotion, in the same way we’ll act professionally towards him and give him the courtesy that he deserves.
“We’re hoping to work together to make this promotion a success. He’s being paid a lot of money. He’s got a tough fight, and there’s the ten percent as well. Our bid put him in that position.
“Well, hopefully, he’ll be professional. Whether he likes it or not, whether I like it or not, we’re working together on this promotion. I hope he’s going to cooperate to make this a success.
“If he doesn’t, it’s not going to go down well with us or the fans. Why wouldn’t he want to make it a success? He’s getting paid a substantial sum of money. He’s a professional fighter,” said Warren.