The WBC has given Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte and extra 48 hours to reach a deal for their heavyweight title clash.
A purse bid was scheduled to take place on Wednesday in Mexico if WBC champion, Fury and interim titlist, Whyte were unable to reach a deal, however the WBC granted the pair an extension until Friday January 28.
The decision marks the fourth time the governing body has postponed the purse bid since ordering the British fighters to fight in December.
Whyte is currently involved in an arbitration case against the WBC with regard to the purse split which was set at 80-20 in Fury’s favour.
The situation took another twist earlier this week after reports emerged that former unified heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua had been offered a fee of £15m to step aside from his contracted rematch against Oleksandr Usyk to enable the Ukrainian WBA ‘super’, WBO, IBF and IBO titlist to fight Fury for all the belts.
Tyson Fury vs. Dillian Whyte Statushttps://t.co/MwO1CoGSP3
— World Boxing Council (@WBCBoxing) January 26, 2022
Joshua responded to the claims in a video posted to his social media where he denied receiving a contract, whilst his promoter, Eddie Hearn confirmed on Wednesday that an offer had been made to step aside, however the reported £15m figure was incorrect.
Fury’s return had been targeted for March 26 in the UK and ’The Gypsy King’ has vented his frustration this week over the uncertainty of his next move through a series of social media videos.
In one video the 33-year-old remarked: “Tick, tick, effing, tick, tock.
“Is Dillian Whyte going to fight me? Is Anthony Joshua going to step aside, because I am sick of looking at these bums.
“Sick of listening to their excuses. Tick, tick, tock, the time has run out the bottle, you’re all getting a good hiding. Cowards.”
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In a statement published on the WBC website they confirmed this would be the final postponement.
The statement read: “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.
“The WBC has granted this final extension and If there is no agreement, a purse bid will be held this coming Friday, January 28.”
