The blockbuster matchup of Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte has had a strange build-up, to say the least. Now, the latest comments from Frank Warren have caused concern among boxing fans.
Fury-Whyte should be the peak of a massive month of boxing coming up. The British heavyweight pair (should) do battle in front of a sold-out Wembley Stadium on April 23rd. In fact, the tantalizing matchup may break an attendance record at the stadium; they increased the capacity all the way up to a staggering 94,000.
Read: Tyson Fury brings banned heavyweight Jarrell Miller into Dillian Whyte fight camp.
Despite this, critics are concerned that the fight may still not go ahead. This worry is due mainly to the bizarre build-up, primarily from Dillian Whyte’s camp.
Dillian Whyte absent from press conference
In a strange turn of events, Whyte did not turn up to the fight’s ticket launch press conference at the start of March. After a long dispute over contracts for the heavyweights’ match, the cause of Whyte’s no-show was argued too.
Per Manchester Evening News, Tyson Fury’s promoter Bob Arum claimed that Whyte didn’t go because he was not being paid an upside.
That is, he wasn’t getting a percentage of the pay-per-view profits – something not typically included in a purse bid.
Fury, alone at the press conference, accused Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn of telling the boxer not to attend. Hearn denied this, calling the claim “absolute rubbish”.
Instead, Eddie Hearn stated that Whyte did not attend the ticket launch because Queensberry promotions had not given him fight tickets for his family and friends. In addition, the promoters were unwilling to provide a private plane to get Whyte to the event from his camp in Portugal.
All the unusual pre-fight promotion has cast doubt over whether Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte will happen at all.
Frank Warren’s worrying comment
Promoter Frank Warren put boxing fans on high alert with his latest comments.
He suggested that Queensberry Promotions have a backup fighter in case Dillian Whyte decides to pull out of the match.
When asked if Fury’s camp had a replacement, Warren gave a cryptic response, according to The Mirror: “The truth of the matter is that we cover all bases.”
Although Warren’s comment sounds ominous, backup opponents are a standard precaution in boxing. In a sport where injuries are rife in both training and matches, it makes sense to cover all bases to ensure you still have an event to put on.
Despite this, the potential of a last-minute collapse of this heavily-anticipated battle looms over the final preparations.
Featured image credit: Getty
