Dillian Whyte has seemingly cleared a path for his rematch with Anthony Joshua to happen.
Promoter Eddie Hearn told Boxing Social this week that talks had ended quickly following the first offer sent to Whyte’s team, but the fighter has branded those claims false.
Whyte said that his team responded to a short email with ‘normal’ questions and attempted, unsuccessfully, to follow up to progress the negotiations.
Speaking on TalkSPORT, the 35-year-old fighting out of Brixton said it ‘didn’t seem real from the start.’
“The fight’s just collapsed. There has been no communication. It’s just weird, it never seemed real from the start. We know AJ’s in a position of transition. They don’t want him to have dangerous fights but they want to keep his name good and make it look like he’s trying to get big fights.”
“There was no counter offer from Matchroom, Eddie Hearn even said it himself. That’s garbage … We’ve had one, three-line email about the fight. No contract at all. We’ve been trying to contact Eddie Hearn for one month. Multiple phone calls and emails. They’ve just gone missing.”
“I’ve been negotiating with Eddie Hearn for years, I know when Eddie wants a fight, he calls you, he bugs you. I haven’t spoken to Eddie Hearn for one month…”
Despite ‘AJ’s team seemingly moving on to find another opponent for August 12 in London, Whyte says he’s still willing to take the fight. Asked if he would accept the terms as they were, he said “100 per cent, of course I would” before going one step further.
“I’d fight AJ winner takes all. If they want winner takes all I’ll do that. If I lose they don’t have to pay me anything. How about that?”
It goes without saying that these offers are thrown around often in the sport and never materialise.
On the surface of it, though, Whyte’s acceptance removes any big obstacles in making the rivals’ second fight happen. He’s still not confident it does, believing he has been ‘disrespected’ and ‘used’ and that Joshua’s side doesn’t want it.