TYSON FURY blasted Dillian Whyte for ‘going silent’ since their fight announcement and goaded: ‘Come out of hiding’.
The British heavyweight rivals were the centre of a record-breaking purse bid ahead of their WBC world title fight.
Fury’s promoter Frank Warren won the rights to stage the domestic grudge match with a huge £30.6million offer.
But Whyte is yet to react following the confirmation of his first world championship fight.
Fury, who has been very vocal, has now sent out a direct message to his mandatory challenger to promise him ‘a good hiding’.
He said in a Twitter video: “Whyte feathers, coward. Where are ya Whyte feathers?
“You wanted your world title shot with [Deontay] Wilder for three years, you never got it.
“You was mandatory for me for three minutes and you got your fight, didn’t you coward? ‘Tyson Fury’s a coward, he don’t want to fight Dillian Whyte’.
“But all of a sudden it’s on your toes and you’ve gone silent you little b****. Come out of hiding Whyte feathers. Come and get it.
“You’re getting a good hiding, you wanted a bit of free money didn’t you dosser?
“But now you’re getting eight million, which is seven-and-a-half million too much for you, you old dosser. Come out and say something, bum.”
Whyte, 33, was named WBC mandatory for Fury’s title in December, but was left fuming after being handed only a 20 per cent split.
The contender is still set to appeal the decision with an arbitration case believed to take place by March.
A source in the Whyte camp told SunSport: “The fact that the purse bids elicited the two highest purse offers of all times is a testament to Dillian Whyte’s extreme marketability.
“A fact that could and should have led the WBC to give him a 50:50 split under the relevant provision of their own rules and certainly not less than the minimum percentage (80-20) provided there.”
It held up negotiations with Fury and left opposing teams preferring to auction against each other in purse bids opposed to agreeing terms for a fee.
But, Middle Eastern backers were at the same time were fronting cash and talks for the Gypsy King, 33, to instead face Oleksander Usyk.
Usyk, 35, is contracted to a rematch with Anthony Joshua, 32, following his 12-round upset in September.
And it meant AJ and Whyte would have needed separate step-aside deals to allow the Saudi undisputed title decider.
Fees were said to have been agreed until at the ’11th hour’ talks broke down following a disagreement in terms.
Fury’s side claimed Joshua demanded an additional £3.7m while the WBC champ was accused of wanting an interim fight before facing Usyk.
Ultimately, the heavyweight unification collapsed with Joshua now in line to rematch Usyk.
And following Warren’s successful purse bid, Fury is due to fight Whyte, with April 23 in Cardiff the frontrunner to host.
