Heavyweight Dillian Whyte is giving former heavyweight title challenger Hughie Fury a take it or leave it offer to fight him on February 3 at the O2 Arena in London, UK. That’s when Whyte plans on fighting again. Hughie (20-1, 10 KOs) wants a full training camp to get ready for the Whyte fight, but that’s not going to be possible.
The 23-year-old Hughie is interested in fighting Whyte on the undercard of the Tony Bellew vs. David Haye card on May 5. Unfortunately, Whyte (22-1, 16 KOs) is not interested in staying out of the ring for the next 5 months waiting for a fight with Hughie. Whyte wants to fight in February and then in April.
”Stop the tricks let’s do it @DillianWhyte,” Hughie Fury said on Monday.
This would be a good fight if it can get made. Hughie has only had one big fight during his career in losing to WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker by a 12 round majority decision last September at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK. Hughie spoiled any chances he ever had of winning the contest by running and holding for 12 rounds to avoid getting hit by Parker.
Whyte’s only big fights have come against Anthony Joshua and Dereck Chisora. Whyte arguably lost both fights, although he was given a controversial win against Chisora.
Hughie has been given clearance by UKAD to continue his career.
“I offered it before. They turned down the fight,” said Whyte to IFL TV in talking about Hughie Fury turning down the fight. “There reason for not taking the fight was ‘we don’t fight our friends.’ Hughie’s career is going nowhere. He stinks the place out all the time. Now they forget we’re friends and they want to fight. I said I’ll take that fight. Let’s go. Now that they lose to Parker, they’re trying to piggyback off my name to get back into the picture. What does Hughie bring to the fight? Nothing. This is a pure fight for the fans, because the fans would be interested in the fight. Hughie has no ranking. I’m not going to wait around for him. My career goes on. I have no interest. My next fight is February 3rd. Don’t call the top guys out if you’re not ready to go. When the opportunity comes, you’ve got to take it. I’m not going to wait around for him. He just needs to man up and fight,” said Whyte
If Hughie is going to insist on fighting Whyte on another date, then it’s not going to happen next. The could happen at some point in 2018, but not on February 3. Hughie would need to be flexible with his schedule by getting back into the ring to fight Whyte without a full 8 weeks under his belt if he were to agree to fight on February 3. Hughie already turned down a world title shot against WBC champion Deontay Wilder in the past when he was offered a fight on 6 weeks’ notice instead of 8. It’s unlikely that Hughie will agree to fight Whyte without an 8-week camp.
Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn is hoping to match him against either Lucas Browne or Agit Kabayel on February 3. Hearn doesn’t see Hughie as a realistic option.