DILLIAN WHYTE is baffled by the delay to announce the biggest fight in British boxing history between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
Whyte and AJ’s shared promoter Eddie Hearn revealed in June that the financial terms were agreed and the Gypsy King confirmed and celebrated the announcement.
But this year has seen contrasting comments from both sides of the super fight, with WBA, IBF and WBO boss Josh claiming a deal is close to completion while a heavy and downbeat-looking Fury claimed progress has ground to a halt.
A £200million June clash in Saudi Arabia is expected, once the broadcast arrangements can be agreed, but Whyte – who secured a rematch with Alexander Povektin five minutes after his loss in August – is puzzled by the ongoing hold-up.
Ahead of the March 27 rerun in Gibraltar, Whyte told SunSport: “I need to focus on my own fight and get my own win before I start screaming and shouting about anyone else but I really don’t know what to make of it.
“I don’t know what is going on, I cannot understand how such a big fight is so hard to make.
“It does not make sense to me, what could be taking so long?
“There is a lot of nonsense that goes on in boxing, often fans and even reporters don’t get to know about it so it’s hard to understand.
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“I think if everybody knew all of the facts, all of the time, then a lot of people would think very differently.
“People might stop listening to what they see on social media, or what they are told, because there is always more to what you are being told.”
Whyte’s revenge mission against the 41-year-old Russian has been delayed three times after the former world champion contracted coronavirus.
Battles in November and January were scrapped and even the March 6 plan was pushed back.
But the Brixton Body Snatcher doubts how Povetkin – who recovered from two knockdowns to land the shock KO win – could leap out of a Covid-19 ward and into a training camp so quickly.
“He never had Covid,” Whyte said. “He just wanted more time to train or prepare.
“You don’t recover from coronavirus overnight like that, it was some sort of miracle recovery.
“But this is boxing and I am used to all the games and tricks.
“For someone that has had covid, he has looked in photos better than I have ever seen him look before! I’m not sure someone coming off their sickbed would look that good.
“Thankfully the fight is now on, there are now more delays and we are ready to rock.”
