Heavyweight contender Dillian Whyte is disputing the recent statements that were made by promoter Eddie Hearn, who claimed in several interviews that Whyte was demanding too much money for a rematch with Anthony Joshua.
Hearn was aiming to secure Whyte for Joshua’s potential ring return on August 12 in the UK.
According to Hearn, he sent over an offer and Whyte’s handlers founds the numbers to be “unacceptable.”
The veteran promoter is now exploring alternative options for his boxer.
However, Whyte explains that he was never seriously pursued for the date.
Whyte believes his name was being used to boost Joshua’s position when it comes to negotiating a possible December showdown with former WBC world champion Deontay Wilder.
“They’re talking rubbish. I haven’t turned down the fight. All I got, after Eddie talked publicly and often about making me an offer to fight AJ, was a very short email late in the evening on Friday 2 June,” Whyte told Wally Downes of The Sun.
“I absolutely 100 percent want to fight AJ and called Eddie to discuss the offer but couldn’t get hold of him. I messaged him too. I didn’t hear back from him so I sent him an email to confirm I wanted the fight. I didn’t turn down the offer or propose a counter-offer. All I did was ask normal questions on his three-line email so-called offer.
“Even before I emailed, Eddie was already saying publicly that his offer was unacceptable. So, why make it in the first place? It is out of order to use me to boost AJ’s value in negotiations for the Wilder fight, without any intention to fight me. Heavyweight boxing is in an absolute mess at the moment and bullsh!t like this doesn’t help.”
Whyte states that he tried to obtain further information regarding the date and venue, but he was unable to get in touch with Hearn.
While Hearn stated in interviews that both sides were negotiating a deal, Whyte denies that any negotiations were taking place with him or his team.
“Eddie has rightfully been talking about it being a stadium-filling blockbuster for years and I have chased this fight for eight years. So I asked him why he would host the event at the O2 in the middle of August when most people are on holiday. He didn’t respond to my email or get in touch but carried on talking about ‘negotiations’ that simply weren’t happening and still haven’t happened,” Whyte said.
“There hasn’t been a single conversation with me, my lawyer or any of my team. I chased him with a follow-up email on June 13, to tell him that the offer didn’t feel real and that AJ obviously didn’t want the fight and was going to wait for his Saudi payday in December. I then did an interview with Sky on June 15 after which I got a short and weird response from Eddie saying that the numbers don’t work and that we should look at alternative options. Let’s be very clear here, I told him I wanted the fight, I didn’t turn it down and I didn’t price myself out and in fact have not had a single discussion about it with Matchroom since the ‘offer’ and I didn’t make any demands.”