Eddie Hearn believes Dillian Whyte was fouled by Tyson Fury - but rejected the fighter's call for a rematch.
Whyte was thoroughly dominated by Fury over six rounds on Saturday night in their world heavyweight title fight before the champion stopped him with an uppercut. But Whyte has been calling for a rematch since, insisting that he was illegally pushed during the sequence that saw him dropped and ultimately deemed unable to continue.
And even though Hearn agrees with Whyte's contention, he doesn't believe that it's a severe enough foul to have changed the outcome after Fury's uppercut. The Matchroom Boxing boss would like to see Whyte get another world title shot, but believes Fury should now move on to an undisputed fight with Anthony Joshua or Oleksandr Usyk.
"Listen, he was definitely pushed over," Hearn told Mirror Fighting ahead of this weekend's Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano fight. "But he was also effectively knocked out.
"He wasn't knocked out, but he got up and he says he hit his head on the way down from the push, who knows. I don't think there's any call for a rematch, I'd love to see him get another shot but if you want me to be honest, he got beat fair and square, really. It was a foul, but maybe he should have been given more time, I've seen them not given."
Hearn had at different stages teased potentially attending the Wembley Stadium fight in support of the challenger, but instead opted to watch from home. He insists that despite talk in the media, there was never a concrete invite from Queensberry Promotions for him to attend.
Frank Warren submitted a joint purse bid to host the fight with Top Rank Boxing, which broke records at £31million. Their only other competitors were Matchroom, whose bid would have been a world record had they managed to win at £25m.
"I never really had an offer to go there," Hearn said. "I wasn't really invited. At the end of the day I wanted Dillian Whyte to win and I wasn't involved with the fight. I watched it and congratulations to Tyson Fury on a good victory."
Do you agree with Eddie Hearn's assessment of Dillian Whyte's argument? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
And despite some disputes over the record-breaking 94,000 attendance number that has been touted by the promotion, Hearn was impressed with the event. However, he was unimpressed with their lacklustre undercard, saying: "Some have said there wasn't 94,000.
"But look, it was a great crowd, great showcase, you can't really say anything negative about the show because I'll get criticised but I'll do it anyway; s*** undercard. The main event weren't great, but it was a great knockout so everyone leaves happy... [Darren Tetley vs Ekow Ussman] as co-main event? Oh Jesus, if I'd have done that I'd have been shot."
