Eddie Hearn, the promoter heavyweight contender Dillian Whyte, believes that Tyson Fury should be stripped of his WBC heavyweight title if his upcoming defense is further delayed.

Fury has been inactive since February 2020, when he stopped Deontay Wilder to capture the WBC world title.

A trilogy fight with Wilder was scheduled for 2020, but it was postponed several times due to the COVID19 pandemic.

After some legal issues, the trilogy was set down for a date in July. It later postponed when Fury tested positive for COVID-19.

The trilogy fight is now scheduled to take place on October 9 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Whyte holds the WBC's interim-title. If Fury gets stripped of his status, then Whyte would be automatically elevated to full champion.

But Hearn is more interested in matching the Fury-Wilder winner against his star fighter, unified champion Anthony Joshua, who on September 25 will face mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk.

The British promoter fears the trilogy bout will get pushed back again.

“Is that fight even happening? We are about to announce our next America show for October 16th and that’s only six weeks away and it’s tight but it’s not as big a card as Fury vs Wilder 3 should be," Hearn told The Sun.

“They have sold no tickets and there is absolutely zero hype around the fight. I am sure, if it happens, that people will turn on and watch it but no one is flying to Vegas. I reckon 75 percent of the people that went to the second fight were Brits who had flown over and normal fans cannot do that now.

“I want it to happen 100 percent. I want a winner of that finally sorted so we can try again to make Anthony Joshua's undisputed fight. But if it doesn’t happen then the WBC have to finally put Fury into recess. Fury has not boxed since February 2020 and if he doesn’t box in October then it will be almost two years since that title was defended. Dillian Whyte has been sitting there as interim-champion, desperate and deserving of a shot.

“I appreciate the two-year absence is down to the [COVID] pandemic and the problems but, when it gets to two years and everyone else has managed to fight, something has got to happen.”