In this week’s Fight Talk we look at the latest delays in getting a fight between WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte over the line, plus react to Fury sensationally challenging UFC champion Francis Ngannou to a boxing fight using MMA gloves.
Plus there’s news of Anthony Joshua looking to freshen up his coaching team with a new trainer and Floyd Mayweather eyes a return to the ring for yet another lucrative exhibition bout – and this one would be quite the spectacle.
It’s Fight Talk – your weekly fix of boxing news.
Fury-Whyte delays continue
In early December, the WBC ordered heavyweight champion Tyson Fury to defend his title against mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte.
A mouth-watering all-British clash between two huge characters in the sport was on the cards.
If only boxing was that simple, with politics and finances once again delaying matters as both teams disagree on how the revenue generated from the fight should be split.
Fury is undoubtedly the bigger draw, having built a strong fanbase worldwide – most significantly in the lucrative American market – and wanted a significant chunk of the money.
Londoner Whyte, meanwhile, is a box-office star in the UK and felt a split closer to 55-45 in favour of Fury was a fair reflection of their respective profiles.
With their teams unable to reach agreement, the WBC looked at their earnings from previous fights and ruled an 80-20 split for Fury.
Queensbury Promotions’ Frank Warren, who promotes Fury, says “the percentages could have been 90-10”.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Warren added: “Tyson lodged £20m [in his last fight]. It’s a bit like saying a mandatory challenger to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez should get 45% – it’s never going to happen. It’s not realistic.”
Purse bids – where opposing promoters are unable to agree terms for a fight and therefore the highest bidder earns the rights to host it – were scheduled for Tuesday. A purse bid would allow rival promoters who do not represent either of the fighters the chance to make an offer to stage the contest.
But that has now been delayed until at least next week, with Whyte and his promoter Eddie Hearn unhappy and subsequently appealing against the 80-20 ruling.
Warren told BBC Sport a purse bid was unlikely as he expected an agreement between the heavyweights.
He expects the fight to go ahead and Whyte to accept the outcome from the appeal.
“But we expect the split to be increased by the process we are going through,” Warren added.
Many boxing fans are seemingly uninterested in the politics and just want the two men to get it on…
MMA v boxing – could we see a Fury-Ngannou crossover fight?
Warren says he expects Fury to fight on 26 March – either in the UK or abroad – whether that is against Whyte or another opponent.
But, in a somewhat bizarre twist, Fury has challenged UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou for a crossover fight…
Cameroon’s Ngannou came back with a counter-offer as the two champs traded words on Twitter…
So could we really see two kings of heavyweight combat sport clash?
You wouldn’t put it past Fury. Remember, this is a man who once entered the theatrical and scripted world of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) to ‘beat’ 6ft 8in ‘monster’ Braun Strowman.
The Fury-Ngannou exchange led to fans of both disciplines defending their sport…
Joshua to announce new training team
Sticking with the heavyweights, Anthony Joshua is set to freshen up his training team before a prospective rematch with unified champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Speaking at the Expo 2020 event in Dubai, Joshua said: “I want to try some new things – a new environment to get inspired again and take the heavyweight division by storm.
“New environment, work with some new coaches and go to war. It’s a warrior mindset.”
The Briton lost his WBO, WBA and IBF titles to the Ukrainian on points in September and, according to promoter Hearn, the rematch is likely to take place in London – possibly at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium again – in April.
Joshua has been under the tutelage of Rob McCracken since turning professional, but has recently been in the United States and Middle East working with various experienced trainers such as Ronnie Shields, Virgil Hunter and Eddy Reynoso.
He was also getting some tips this past week under the watchful eye of former pound-for-pound star Floyd Mayweather…
Hearn says Joshua has also “been trying out trainers here at home behind closed doors” and an announcement will be made in the next couple of weeks.
It is not yet known if McCracken – who also oversees the Team GB amateur squad – will be involved.
Money Mayweather v Money Kicks?
If there is one certainty in boxing, it’s that Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather loves a dollar bill.
Having amassed a record of 50-0, the five-weight world champion’s last professional bout was against UFC star Conor McGregor in 2017.
Arguably the greatest boxer in recent years, Mayweather then reportedly earned $8m after travelling to Tokyo in 2018 to stop Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in the first round.
In June 2021, he then won an eight-round points decision in an exhibition bout against YouTuber-turned-boxer Logan Paul.
Mayweather described the fight as a “legalised bank robbery” when he revealed he took home $100m for 24 minutes’ work.
After the victory, he suggested his time in a boxing ring – whether professional or exhibition – was over.
But the 44-year-old has seemingly changed his mind, with news this week that he is open to taking on a 20-year-old social media star from Dubai on top of a helipad on the iconic Burj Al Arab Jumeirah hotel.
Money Kicks – real name Rashed Belhasa – is the son of a billionaire entrepreneur and has had two white collar boxing fights.
Unsurprisingly, he welcomes a clash with Mayweather…
Money Mayweather v Money Kicks on a hotel helipad – there is no sport quite like boxing.
