Tyson Fury’s US promoter Bob Arum has declared that he believes Dillian Whyte would not obstruct a potential undisputed fight with Anthony Joshua.
The WBC last week released a statement which said the winner of Fury’s third bout with Deontay Wilder must defend against Whyte, providing he overcomes Alexander Povetkin next Saturday.
Fury is co-promoted by Arum and Frank Warren
Arum has since revealed that plans for Fury vs Wilder 3 to take place on December 19 could be pushed back to February 2021.
He told talkSPORT Fight Night: “The WBC approved the trilogy contract and that provides for postponements.
“And certainly, if you can’t do it with spectators, a reasonable postponement would be okay.
“It’s a different kind of fight. The Fury vs Wilder fight in the United States is a major, major fight.
“Dillian Whyte, nobody ever heard of him in the United States.
Hearn represents both Joshua and Whyte
“Eddie Hearn tells you guys something different from what he tells me.
“But he has to take the position that advocates for Dillian Whyte.
“I’m absolutely clear that the Wilder fight will push ahead and then we’ll see.
“Then, if he wants to push Dillian Whyte to fight the winner of that fight and to deprive Joshua of the tremendous revenue that would come from a Fury vs Joshua fight, that’s on Eddie.”
Whyte holds the WBC ‘interim’ belt and is mandatory for Fury
Regarding his own understanding of the WBC’s position, Arum continued: “I can’t talk for the WBC, I know based on my conversations with Mauricio [Sulaiman] that if the fight had to be postponed to the beginning of February, that fight would go on.
“What then he would determine in terms of Whyte, he might say, ‘No, Fury if he beats Wilder will have to fight Whyte.’
“And therefore that would affect the Joshua fight, but again, one step at a time.
“All I know is that we are not ingrates. Tyson Fury, Top Rank, we were given the opportunity by Wilder… How do you turn your back on Wilder? That would be absolutely improper.”
Joshua is the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion and has agreed financial terms to face Fury
He concluded: “Again, our goal is to do Fury and Wilder, and then if Fury wins, to go right to a Joshua fight plus a rematch.
“That’s where we stand. It would be an absolute travesty. All these mandatories, schmandatories. People are looking for what the public wants.
“If Joshua is successful against Pulev and Fury is successful against Wilder, then everybody on both sides of the pond will look at Fury and Joshua as the fight that they wanna see.
“And they don’t care about a mandatories, whether it’s Usyk on the WBO side or Whyte on the WBC side. People don’t care, they would be outraged.
“Everybody wants to see, assuming they’re both successful in their next fights, Fury and Joshua for the undisputed heavyweight championship.
“I think the pressure from the public, the pressure from everybody will see that fight through.”