Dillian Whyte refusing to sign Anthony Joshua contract until detail is removed

26 June 2023 , 14:57

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Dillian Whyte refusing to sign Anthony Joshua contract until detail is removed

Dillian Whyte will only rematch Anthony Joshua if Eddie Hearn removes a rematch clause from his proposed contract.

Whyte was the frontrunner to fight Joshua on August 12 at The O2 arena but talks of the fight fizzled out when Whyte revealed he and Hearn hadn't spoken for a month. Things changed last week when Hearn reached out to Whyte's team with a fight contract, but 'The Body Snatcher' has now claimed the proposal is not what Hearn promised it would be.

"Well we had a contract, the contract's with my lawyer and my lawyers have gone back to him. There's a lot of things that have been said publicly that are not happening when we're negotiating. They said it was gonna be a standard contract but it's not. There's a lot of things in the contract now that they didn't say was gonna be in it," Whyte told talkSPORT.

"It's like this, he said, 'We're gonna send a simple contract,' and then they sent a very complicated contract with a lot of hoops and a lot of hooks to hook me in. I don't want that, I just want a simple contract, simple fight, winner moves on and has a big fight in Saudi Arabia.

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"I just want a straightforward fight, winner moves on, that's it. I'm not happy with the rematch clause for one and then also there's other little things in there that would tie me in. If I fight AJ and beat him, I can't just move on and go and fight in the big fights. They want the ability to change the date and the venue."

Joshua and Whyte first met as amateurs over a decade as Whyte beat his domestic rival by decision, but 'AJ' avenged the when the pair met in the professional ranks in 2015. Joshua is pencilled-in to fight Deontay Wilder in December and Whyte wants to replace 'AJ' in that fight if he beats him, something a rematch clause won't allow him to do.

Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte have already fought twice (Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing)

"This fight for me is about the opportunity, it's not about the money, that's why I'm taking the fight for the money they've offered me but now they're trying to put a rematch clause in there that ties me up for a year and messes everything up, I'm not interested in that," Whyte added.

"I'm like, 'No, let's just have the fight on August 12 and that's it.' It is about the opportunity, but with the rematch involved - if I beat him then I don't get an opportunity, I've got to wait and fight Joshua again. Obviously the big carrot and the big prize is to fight Deontay Wilder in December in Saudi Arabia."

Harry Davies