Dillian Whyte has hit back at claims from Eddie Hearn that he has turned down a rematch with Anthony Joshua for August 12.
Negotiations have broken down for a clash between Joshua and Whyte, with Hearn claiming that they were unable to reach terms with the Brixton man.
The 35-year-old former world title challenger, who hasn’t fought since overcoming Jermaine Franklin in November, insists he is still intent on facing ‘AJ’ and says the Matchroom boss did not return his calls to discuss the terms further.
“They’re talking rubbish,” Whyte told Sun Sport.
”I haven’t turned down the fight.
“All I got, after Eddie talked publicly and often about making me an offer to fight AJ, was a very short email late in the evening on Friday 2 June.
“I absolutely 100 per cent want to fight AJ and called Eddie to discuss the offer but couldn’t get hold of him.
“I messaged him too. I didn’t hear back from him so I sent him an email to confirm I wanted the fight.
“I didn’t turn down the offer or propose a counter-offer. All I did was ask normal questions on his three-line email so-called offer.”
Joshua, who has also been out of the ring since beating Franklin himself on April 1, is also in negotiations for a blockbuster bout with Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia in December.
Hearn says ‘AJ’ remains keen to fight on August 12 and revealed that former European champion, Agit Kabayel is on a shortlist of four or five heavyweights.
’The Body Snatcher’ feels his rival, who stopped him in seven rounds in 2015, had no real intention of facing him given the lure of a potential money-spinning showdown with Wilder.
“Even before I emailed, Eddie was already saying publicly that his offer was unacceptable. So, why make it in the first place?
“It is out of order to use me to boost AJ’s value in negotiations for the Wilder fight, without any intention to fight me.
“Heavyweight boxing is in an absolute mess at the moment and bulls*** like this doesn’t help.”
Hearn has the O2 Arena on hold, although said earlier this week that there is a possibility of exploring a stadium, following the release of the Premier League fixtures for the new season.
Whyte, who boxed in front of a record 94,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in his defeat to WBC heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury last April, feels the rematch warrants a stadium rather than the 20,000 seater O2 Arena, which staged their first bout.
“Eddie has rightfully been talking about it being a stadium-filling blockbuster for years and I have chased this fight for eight years.
“So I asked him why he would host the event at the O2 in the middle of August when most people are on holiday.
“He didn’t respond to my email or get in touch but carried on talking about ‘negotiations’ that simply weren’t happening and still haven’t happened.
“There hasn’t been a single conversation with me, my lawyer or any of my team.”
