Dillian Whyte has been handed a less than three-week deadline to agree to terms for his world heavyweight title fight with Tyson Fury.
The British duo are mandated to fight for Fury's WBC heavyweight belt, but Whyte believes he deserves more than 20 per cent of the purse due to his history of selling pay-per-views in the UK.
The WBC argue that the gap between Fury and Whyte's latest purses, as submitted to the governing body, is actually a bigger disparity than 80-20, which is their mandated split.
And they have now told Whyte that he must have signed an agreement to fight by close of business on February 21, with Fury's promoters Frank Warren and Bob Arum now overseeing the fight.
Whyte has remained completely quiet about the bout since the fight was confirmed at a purse bid last week, barring a two-word message to Fury on Instagram saying "just work".
He is training hard for his shot at the world title, which has been mandated for years but has yet to come to fruition, but is also locked in arbitration over the split, which he feels should be closer to the 60-40 range.
The Londoner has worked with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing for a lot of his most recent career, including his two recent bouts with Alexander Povetkin for the interim title.
But Hearn's massive bid of £25m to bring the bout to DAZN was not enough to beat out Warren's record-breaking £31m offering in association with Arum.
The bout is set to be broadcast on BT Sport Box Office in the UK and ESPN in the US, where Fury has a long-term broadcast deal.
But it is still up in the air as Whyte looks to get a ruling on what percentage of the split he should receive, which could be decided on after that February 21 date.
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Last week, it had seemed that a deal was in the works to have Whyte paid a step aside fee, along with Anthony Joshua to allow Fury to fight Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed title.
But that fell by the wayside when terms couldn't be agreed in what Arum referred to as a "convoluted" deal that would have seen the titles wrapped up for three fights.
Joshua would have demanded an immediate shot at the undisputed title, with Whyte then presumably facing the winner of his bout with either Fury or Usyk.
Instead, Fury opted to take the mandatory fight with Whyte, and they are expected to meet on April 23 in a UK stadium.
The Principality Stadium in Wales has been mentioned as a possible venue, but it remains to be seen, with Warren promising a press conference next week to announce details.
