Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says Andy Ruiz Jr. and Robert Helenius are the two options for WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury to defend against next in March now that Dillian Whyte is out of the picture. Arum offered Whyte a 75/25 split, but he says he wants $10 million, which is NOT going to happen.
That’s more loot than what Ruiz got in his first and second fights with Joshua, so it’s not surprising that Arum wants no part of paying Whyte that kind of dough. Arum states that Whyte is “too greedy.”
Arum says the offer they made to Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) was more than he’s ever gotten, but he failed to agree to it. As such, Fury and Arum are moving on and Whyte is now left in the dust without a fight.
It’s ANOTHER missed opportunity for Dillian, who has blown chance after chance during his career with his ham-handed moves.
Whyte is the WBC mandatory for Fury, but he’s stuck in arbitration, which isn’t expected to be concluded until March.
With Dillian out of the picture for a fight with Fury, possibly forever, Arum will be looking to line the ‘Gypsy King’ up with Ruiz or Helenius in March in Manchester, England.
Assuming Fury wins that fight, Arum says he’ll then face the winner of the Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk 2 fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship in the second half of 2022.
Arum: Dillian Whyte Team “Too Greedy”
“It’s unfortunate because Dillian Whyte can have that fight and we would do that fight, but in our view, they’re being very greedy in what they’re asking,” said Bob Arum to IFL TV on what Whyte and his promoters want for a title shot against Fury.
“Particularly in the age of the pandemic where you don’t know the kind of spectators you’re going to get like in the last Tyson Fury fight where we did the event and did a great gate.“It would have been even bigger if we had the UK fans there, which they couldn’t go because of the travel ban in the United States. We’ve offered them [Team Whyte] a good deal, a purse deal, far more than they’ve ever gotten in any fighting and that hasn’t moved them.
“We’ve talked to the head of the WBC, Mauricio Sulaiman and he said, ‘Look, it breaks my heart, but go find another opponent, fight without the WBC title, and we’re not going to take it away from you and go about your business.’
Ruiz And Helenius The 2 Options For Fury
“Dillian Whyte and his people should come to the table and make a deal to fight Tyson Fury, period end of the story. But that’s not likely to happen, so they’re going to play out the arbitration.
“Frank Warren and I are looking for another opponent to do Fury’s fight in Manchester or in Las Vegas, depending on who the opponent is. So, we’re looking at Andy Ruiz, he’s a possibility, he’s available.
“This big Finnish kid that looked good on the Fury-Wilder card, [Robert] Helenius. He’s a big, big Finnish kid, who can really fight, and those are the two principal guys.