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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Donagh Corby

Dillian Whyte’s brother casts doubt on Tyson Fury fight despite huge purse bid

Dillian Whyte's brother has raised concerns over how his fight with Tyson Fury will be handled once it has been signed and confirmed.

Frank Warren beat out Eddie Hearn for the massive WBC title fight with a record-breaking purse bid, and is expected to bring Fury back to the UK for a huge stadium homecoming.

Hearn placed what would have been one of the biggest bids in history with £25million, but it wasn't close to the £31m Warren offered to seal the fight.

However, Dean Whyte, a promoter of smaller shows in his own right, is unsure how the fight will be sold by Warren's Queensberry Promotions, who will run the show in conjunction with Bob Arum's Top Rank.

"They've got the ball in their court," Whyte's brother said during an appearance on the Intu Boxing podcast. "We'll see how it all plays out.

"I can't get involved in any of this conversation.

"As a fight, it's a very good fight, it's one the public have been demanding to see, so as a fan I could say I'm happy to want to see this fight.

(Twitter/DeanWhyte)

"It's going to be huge for the UK fans and it's going to be a stadium fight, that's how it's looking."

However, therein lies the problem as far as Whyte can see, given Warren's lack of massive UK shows over the past few years.

Fury hasn't fought in the UK since an undercard bout with Francesco Pianeta in Belfast when he was warming up for his world title comeback in 2018.

And even Fury's return to the ring, albeit against the unknown Sefer Seferi, couldn't draw more than 15,000 fans to the Manchester Arena.

Of course, his star rose after three incredible performances against Deontay Wilder to draw and then win and retain the belt, but it remains to be seen if he can draw similar numbers at the box office to rival Anthony Joshua.

His most recent trilogy bout with Wilder was well-attended in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena despite being hit hard by a travel ban on British fans.

Will you be buying tickets to see Tyson Fury fight Dillian Whyte in April? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

But the combined total attendance for all three of his massive money bouts with Wilder is still less than the 65,000 that packed into Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for Joshua's last title fight with Oleksandr Usyk in September.

"You've got to look at it like, for me, Frank Warren hasn't done any stadium fights in a very long time," Whyte continued.

"If he has it's not in my time or most people's time, not a big big sell-out.

"If they have, it's been ESPN, Top Rank and then maybe in conjunction but to be honest, nobody does it, really, like Matchroom.

"It's going to be intriguing, as a fan, to see how this all unfolds in terms of production, the show how it goes on.

"You can see the separation between Matchroom shows and Frank Warren shows, they look totally different, they feel totally different, the fans, it's just a different atmosphere altogether.

"But look, let's see what happens."

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