Bob Arum Says Tyson Fury Open To Facing Usyk Or Whyte Next Time Out
Tyson Fury doesn’t care who he boxes next.
After Fury beat Deontay Wilder in their trilogy, many wanted to see him face Oleksandr Usyk next. However, Usyk and Anthony Joshua are set to have their rematch sometime in 2022. With that, many expected Dillian Whyte to be next, but the WBC never ordered that fight. However, according to Bob Arum, he says Fury is open to boxing either Usyk or Whyte.
“I talked to Tyson and we discussed it plainly,” Arum told iFL TV. “If Joshua steps aside, Tyson’s happy to fight Usyk. If Joshua doesn’t step aside – and it’s completely up to Joshua that’s his contract – than Tyson said why not Dillian Whyte. “Then we would go ahead and proceed to make a fight between Fury and Whyte. Doesn’t have to be a mandatory, doesn’t have be anybody ordering it. It’s a good fight for Tyson Fury. We would be talking to the Dillian Whyte people and they have to realize, most the time it’s better to do things voluntarily than force a particular fight.”
According to Arum, the hope is to have Tyson Fury’s next fight on British soil, which is why the Whyte fight may happen there. Arum admits Whyte is not known to the American public, so it would be in the UK, as Fury’s last fight in the UK was in 2008. The bout would also serve as Fury’s final one on his Top Rank deal.
In order to make the Fury-Whyte fight, Arum will need to work with Eddie Hearn. Arum had offered an 80-20 split in favor of Fury which Hearn was not a fan of. However, Fury’s promoter says that makes the most sense as it would be the champ bringing in all the attention.
“That’s the way the rules are,” Arum continued. “If you take the purses that Fury has gotten in his last three fights, you take the purses that Dillian Whyte has gotten and you compare them, if you did the percentages it should probably be 90/10. If Eddie doesn’t like the rules, then he should have been at the convention arguing for new rules. But don’t after the facts start talking about what’s outrageous, what’s not outrageous, the rules are the rules.”
Who would you like to see Tyson Fury next?