Dillian Whyte’s lawyer has expressed doubts that the Briton’s fight with compatriot Tyson Fury will go ahead.
Whyte is scheduled to challenge WBC heavyweight champion Fury at Wembley Stadium on 23 April, but the “Bodysnatcher” did not attend the first pre-fight press conference this month, electing to remain in Portugal to train instead.
Now Jeffrey Benz, Whyte’s lawyer, has opened up on the difficulty that he and his fighter have had in the build-up to the all-British title fight.
“We haven’t spoken to Frank [Warren] or George [Warren] for a month,” Benz said of Fury’s promoters while speaking to talkSPORT. “I had a total of a three-minute conversation with Frank, he called me. Everything we’ve asked for is normal, standard, commercial; it’s not outlandish or outrageous.
“[Their behaviour is] like nothing I’ve ever seen. We don’t have a single ticket for Dillian, his entourage, his mum or anybody else. Contrary to what [Frank] Warren said, we didn’t ask for complimentary tickets equal to the total number of ringside seats; we asked for 25 ringside seats. It’s normal, it’s what we give to Dillian’s opponents.
“We have been given nothing. We’ve asked for credentials for his security team and video team. They’ve given us the bare minimum. We spent weeks asking them to tell us the size of the ring. Imagine if Crystal Palace travel to Chelsea and they don’t know the size of the pitch?
“It’s been stupid games, it was like pulling tooth and nail. [They’re] trying to stack the deck in favour of Fury.”
Benz has even cast doubt over the chances of the bout going ahead, saying: “Dillian is focused on fighting, he’s straightforward in that regard, he’s assuming the fight will go forward, but you never what will happen with this opponent at the last minute.
“But Dillian is doing his thing. It’ll be an exciting fight, if it goes forward – probably the fight of the decade. You just don’t know [if the fight will go ahead].”
Benz also explained Whyte’s reasons for refusing to attend this month’s press conference, saying: “Let’s call it what it was, it was a ticket launch event, it wasn’t a fight press conference. Dillian didn’t attend as they didn’t give him any more than his purse money that he gets just for fighting to attend.
“We asked for a bunch of things, they didn’t come forward on any of them – only the private jet to minimise disruption to training and stop catching Covid. We never got a formal invitation, we didn’t know where it was going to be.
“Frank Warren won a purse bid and won the right for Dillian Whyte to fight Tyson Fury, he didn’t win the right to control Dillian Whyte, he doesn’t own Dillian Whyte.
“Dillian Whyte will come forward trained, focused and ready to beat Tyson Fury on fight day. My job is to make sure he gets that opportunity and it happens and the risk to Dillian is minimised, but we have some serious concerns about that.”
Warren later replied: “We couldn’t agree terms, we went to a purse bid. I don’t want to own him, I just want him to do what he’s signed for.
“He has refused to do any filming for BT. He said he didn’t show up because he didn’t get a private plane. We’re not obliged to do this. He wanted a choice of what plane to fly on and he didn’t want any strangers to film him.”
