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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
David Anderson

Frank Warren issues demand to Dillian Whyte over Tyson Fury world title fight

Dillian Whyte has been told by Frank Warren to stop “bleating and moaning” and sign the contract to fight heavyweight king Tyson Fury.

Warren is promoting Fury’s WBC title defence against Whyte after paying a record £31million to win the purse bid and says he is still waiting for the mandatory challenger to put pen to paper.

Warren is paying Whyte a career-best purse of nearly £6m, plus another £4m if he wins, and doesn’t understand what the hold-up is.

“That’s all we want to do, get on with it,” the Queensberry Promotions chief told Mirror Sport .

“He’s been bleating and moaning that it’s been 1,000 days - I think it’s more like 1,200 days - that he’s been waiting.

Frank Warren won the purse bids to stage Tyson Fury's homecoming fight (REUTERS)

“Well he’s got his shot now and he’s getting a record purse for it, plus that carrot of £4m if he wins, so go for it.

“All the nonsense that’s gone down from Eddie Hearn about the deposit, the deposit has been paid.

“The contract has been approved by the WBC and has been sent to them, so it’s up to Whyte’s people to send it back now.

“The ball’s in their court, absolutely.

“There shouldn’t be any issues. We won the purse bid, we’re using the standard WBC contract, both boxers sign it and that should be it. What’s there to negotiate?”

Warren is looking at St George’s Day, April 23, for this massive clash between these two English fighters and says he is still looking at venues with Cardiff’s Principality Stadium and Wembley the two options.

“We’ve had a few people come to us at the moment, we still haven’t made our mind up what direction we’re going in,” he said.

“We’ve had some good offers so we’re looking at that and we’ll make our decision some time next week.”

Will Tyson Fury beat Dillian Whyte? Let us know in the comments section below

Warren has staged some huge promotions in the UK, such as Frank Bruno’s win over Oliver McCall at Wembley in 1995 and Joe Calzaghe’s triumph against Mikkel Kessler at the Principality in 2007 and says Fury’s homecoming after four years in the US compares to them.

He feels it is the biggest all-British world heavyweight title fight here since Bruno lost in seven rounds to Lennox Lewis in Cardiff in 1993.

“Yeah, I think it’s the biggest since then and it’s a more expensive fight by far,” he said.

“It’s a big one. We did Bruno at the old Wembley stadium, we did Hampden Park, we did Belfast when we did Carl Frampton and Tyson on the same bill, the Principality, Manchester Arena, we’ve been round them all.

“It’s a big fight, it’s certainly the biggest amount of money for a purse bid because it’s a record.

‘It’s huge. Tyson’s gone to the States and conquered America. He’s done what Anthony Joshua couldn’t do and he beat an undefeated fighter in Deontay Wilder in style. He went there and did it.

“He’s a star in America and I just think this fight will be huge.”

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