TYSON FURY and Dillian Whyte will not sign their contracts to fight until a date and venue are confirmed.
Fury’s promoter Frank Warren won the rights to stage the British grudge match with a historic £30.6million purse bid.
Warren has now paid the ten per cent deposit to the WBC, the governing bodies president Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed on Twitter.
Sulaiman also added: “Next step is site and date confirmation and then signed contracts by both fighters.”
Cardiff was seen as the frontrunner to host the fight in April, but the Principality Stadium is believed to be out of the running.
Instead, English football venues like Wembley, West Ham’s London Stadium and Spurs’ ground are now other options.
April 23 has been the rumoured fight date, but until that is decided, along with the host, neither fighter will put pen to paper.
The 33-year-old heavyweights were subject to the WBC’s highest-ever purse bid, after promoters failed to agree a deal on their own.
FREE BETS: GET OVER £2,000 IN NEW CUSTOMER DEALS
Eddie Hearn fronted £23.6m but was £7m off Warren’s winning offer.
Fury will receive a massive 80 per cent of the purse, with Whyte now appealing the decision to only give him 20 per cent.
Whyte is not contracted to Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing banner but has been represented by the promoter on a fight-by-fight basis.
With Warren winning the purse bid, as his fighter is owed the lion share, it remains to be seen what involvement Hearn will have on the fight.
But having seen a deal in the summer between Anthony Joshua, 32, and Fury collapse, again Hearn fears the worst for Whyte.
He told iFL TV: “In my heart of hearts, I don’t know whether Tyson Fury takes this fight. That’s honestly what I believe.”
