Bob Arum has provided an update to fans regarding negotiations between Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte, warning the latter than other opponents are being considered.
Whyte remains in a long battle with the WBC regarding how long it's taken for a title shot to be presented, with the governing body ruling there would be a 80/20 purse split in Fury's favour if it goes to purse bids.
That is far less than Whyte's camp have been asking for, as they were pushing for a 55/45 split in Fury 's favour, and are looking to contest the WBC's ruling.
That has seen purse bids delayed, which were initially due to take place last week, and will now take place on Tuesday - but Arum is hopeful of an outcome before it reaches that stage.
“I think unless an agreement is reached with Dillian Whyte, it [the purse bid] will go ahead sometime in the coming week," he told TalkSport.
“Maybe not on Tuesday, maybe on Friday, but there it is. The WBC has decreed that Whyte will get 20 per cent of the purse bid and if the purse bid goes ahead, we’ll figure out what that 20 per cent comes to.
“I’m always optimistic that a deal gets done before the purse bid. I don’t think a purse bid does anybody any good. I think the parties should sit down, there’s plenty of money involved, and just work out a normal deal. Obviously there’s talks to try and settle the matter so it goes ahead without purse bids.”
Arum also served a warning to Whyte, making it clear that they will not wait for a bout and are pushing to keep Fury active, with a number of potential opponents.
“If Dillian Whyte is not gonna fight for whatever reason, obviously we’re not gonna keep Tyson Fury, not gonna make him pay the price of waiting.
“Fury wants to fight and wants to fight sooner rather than later. We can look around, get a good, decent opponent for him to fight if Whyte isn’t available. You’ve got guys like Robert Helenius and Manuel Charr.
“You just look at the rankings and pick a couple of guys from the rankings who would make decent opponents.”
