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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
George Flood

Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte: ‘Bodysnatcher’ signs contract for heavyweight title showdown before deadline

Tyson Fury is expected to face Dillian Whyte at Wembley Stadium on April 23

(Picture: ES Composite)

Dillian Whyte is reported to have finally signed contracts for a huge all-British heavyweight title showdown with WBC champion Tyson Fury.

'The Bodysnatcher' left it late to comply with the deadline for an agreement, which was said to be 6am GMT on Tuesday morning.

However, he is now understood to have put pen to paper at last on a massive fight that is expected to take place at Wembley Stadium or possibly in Cardiff on April 23, though an official announcement is yet to be made.

The bout will finally see long-time mandatory Whyte challenge for full world honours, having won the WBC's interim title against Oscar Rivas back in 2019 and then successfully regained it by avenging his defeat by Alexander Povetkin in Gibraltar last year.

Last month, Frank Warren and Queensberry Promotions, in partnership with Fury’s US promoters Top Rank, won the right to stage the Fury-Whyte contest by winning the purse bid with a record bid of £31million, which was enough to see off competition from rivals Eddie Hearn and Matchroom.

Fury has since goaded his heavyweight rival on a frequent basis via social media, imploring him to sign the necessary contracts amid suggestions that Whyte was not happy about some of the financial details of the deal, notably that the purse split will skew 80/20 in the champion's favour.

Whyte - who is still expected to earn around £6m plus a £3m bonus if he wins the fight - himself has continued to maintain a very low public profile despite those repeated provocations from Fury, whose team have accused the Londoner of wanting to be paid extra to promote the fight.

Fury most recently claimed that Whyte wanted paying to show up to a press conference, even offering to set up a JustGiving page for his rival - and pledging to donate himself to the tune of 47p.

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