DILLIAN WHYTE is sick of his name being used in “bulls***” bluffs to save Anthony Joshua’s reputation.
Promoter Eddie Hearn promised fight fans the winner of the Whyte and Jermaine Franklin November’s semi-final would fight AJ.
But instead the London 2012 legend outpointed the American loser in an April 1 snorefest.
And now the overdue third meeting between the 35-year-old Brixton Body Snatcher and 33-year-old Joshua – who lost their 2009 amateur slugfest but won the 2015 pro barnstormer – has been cancelled before it was even agreed.
With Joshua being tied into a mega-money Saudi showdown with Deontay Wilder in December, Whyte always doubted the offer was genuine but played along with the talks.
But now he has hit out at a string of issues that are leading boxing fans astray and potentially tarnishing his name.
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“They’re talking rubbish,” Whyte told Sun Sport in response to Hearn’s claim he priced himself out of the August 12 O2 bout. “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.
“I absolutely 100 per cent 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.
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“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 bulls*** like this doesn’t help.”
Fans have been confused by the dozens of Hearn interviews claiming the highest earning British title fight in history is returning.
The fight was on, then off and now Whyte is being accused of turning down a serious big-money offer, which the fighter categorically refutes.
According to the no-nonsense heavyweight, too many untruths are being spread and he wants a few points made clear.
- The original June 2 ‘offer’ was a three-line email with barely any details to arrange such a huge show.
- Hearn went public on June 5 claiming an official offer had been made and talks were underway, which was way off.
- The money on offer – for an arena show in the middle of the school summer holidays when most ticket buyers are on holiday – is poor compared to the stadium spectacular fans have expected.
- Repeated efforts from Team Whyte to negotiate and come to an agreement were ignored.
The Jamaica-born bruiser added: “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.
“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.
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“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.”
Dillian Whyte is a VOW Nutrition athlete, the sports supplements Trusted by the Elite.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
