Eddie Hearn believes that the purse bid for the WBC heavyweight title fight between Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte could be delayed while Whyte’s legal dispute with the WBC is sorted out. 

A purse bid for the all-British fight is due to be held on Tuesday after the WBC ruled that there would be an 80-20 purse split for the fight. 

But Whyte’s team is disputing that decision, while Frank Warren, Fury’ promoter, has said that the WBC champion will box on March 26, whether that is against Whyte or not. 

“I expect the purse bid to be delayed,” Hearn, Whyte’s promoter, said. “I don’t see how it can go ahead, with the arbitration case ongoing, but anything is possible. 

“I absolutely think the fight will happen, even at 80-20 and it’s not about Dillian’s split, it is about the valuation of the fight and that will help us win the purse bid. 

“But I think that will be delayed because of the arbitration - but that is down to the WBC.” 

Hearn says that the wheels are already in motion to appeal the WBC ruling on the split, believing that in the WBC rules Whyte, as the interim champion, should be entitled to more. Whyte was already taking legal action against the WBC, a move that initially delayed him being installed at mandatory challenger as the WBC Convention. 

“There is a lot going on legally behind the scenes with Dillian and the WBC,” Hearn said. “We are not at all happy with the 80-20 split ruling and there is a process now that we have to go through over that to object and that is happening now. 

“There aren’t really negotiations going on for that fight because we need to get to somewhere with the WBC where we get where we want, rather than just wait for another ruling.  We want certain things through the arbitration that Dillian will negotiate for the fight and the split for the fight. 

“The danger is Fury boxes on March 26 and it won’t be Dillian because the case is ongoing. But that is just to put pressure on Dillian to take a poor deal. He would accept it once an arbitration or court case has taken place because he feels very strongly. He feels 80-20 is not fair but if the Court of Arbitration decide it is then I think he will proceed.” 

Whether Fury’s team will really want to go to a purse bid is also something that Hearn doubts, with Hearn as well as several other promoters likely to bid. 

“If it goes to purse bids then there will be no rematch clause, which should make Tyson Fury’s promoters nervous,” Hearn said. 

“You never really want a purse bid, I have been in a lot of them with AJ’s mandatories like Kubrat Pulev and Alexander Povetkin.  You never want to go to a purse bid because you lose total control of the fight. If it goes to purse bids then a lot of people will bid, including us. 

“The offers that have come in to Dillian so far have not been acceptable. But the number we will bid probably will be, so he is in no rush to take unfair deals. But we expect the split to be increased via the process we are going through.” 

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.