Frank Warren claims Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte undercard backlash due to lack of funds to pay for quality fighters
FRANK WARREN has defended the undercard for Tyson Fury’s fight with Dillian Whyte amid fan backlash.
Fury defends his WBC heavyweight title against mandatory challenger Whyte with a record-breaking 94,000 set to be in attendance.
But the cost of winning the purse bids at £30.6million -beating Eddie Hearn’s offer of £24m – has left an impact on the supporting cast.
Warren told iFL TV: “We’ve put all our money into the main event, but we’ve got a good fighting undercard.
“There’s a couple of good cracking fights on there. It is what it is. Obviously, it’s a disappointment.
“We want to deliver every time but at the end of the day we are constricted by the fact that we bid 41 million dollars for the fight.
Read More
“If we bid 32 million, as Matchroom did, we’d have more money to play with.”
Warren also hoped to have light-heavyweight contender Anthony Yarde, 30, on the bill.
But the Londoner is next in line for the winner between Artur Beterbiev, 37, and Joe Smith, 32, who fight on June 18.
It means Yarde could not be risked with a shot at the WBC, IBF and WBO belts around the corner.
Most read in Boxing
FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS – BEST NEW CUSTOMER OFFERS
Fury’s sparring partner Jared Anderson, 22, also had to pull out after suffering an injury.
Warren said: “We lost Anthony and we lost Anderson.
“We’re obviously very unhappy about it, but we did the best we could with the fighters that are available to fight at the moment.”
Tommy Fury, 22, features in a step up against Poland’s Daniel Bocianski, 27, who has a record of 10-1.
Featherweight contender Isaac Lowe, 28, faces unbeaten Nick Ball, 25, in the chief support.
Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte undercard
- Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte (WBC heavyweight title)
- Anthony Cacace vs Jonathan Romero (super-featherweight)
- Tommy Fury vs Daniel Bocianski (light-heavyweight)
- Isaac Lowe vs Nick Ball (featherweight)
- David Adeleye vs Chris Healey (heavyweight)
- Kurt Walker vs Opponent TBC (super-featherweight)
- Karol Itauma vs Michal Ciach (light-heavyweight)
- Royston Barney-Smith vs Jahfieus Faure (super-featherweight)
Warren said: “We put something together, and they are decent fights. They are good fights. There’s nothing wrong with them.
“We are not selling this fight based upon anything else other than this main fight. The rest of it is what it is. It’s an undercard.
“I don’t want to sell anybody short, but again, we only have a certain amount of money to play with.”
Fury’s UK homecoming four years in the making sold out in 90 minutes before more tickets were requested.
It means the fanfare was also sky high before the £24.95 PPV price and undercard was announced.
Read More on The Sun
Warren said: “We bid a lot of money for the main fight.
“People bought tickets for that main fight without us even announcing an undercard. The main event’s what it’s all about.”