Dillian Whyte says Bob Arum needs to ‘shut up’ after suggesting he needs to earn Tyson Fury fight

Heavyweight contender Dillian Whyte is due his WBC mandatory title shot be February 2021 while most recently resurrecting an interim fight against Alexander Povetkin this August. And while Whyte has been a bit frustrated by Tyson Fury’s promoter, Bob Arum, suggesting that he might try to circumvent a fight against Whyte, Arum has added fuel to the fire by saying Whyte should have to beat Oleksandr Usyk to earn a shot at Fury.

That notion elicited this response from Whyte:

“Bob Arum needs to shut up, that’s what he needs to do, he needs to shut up. Listen, the guy is a Hall of Famer, he’s a nice guy and all of this, but he’s just talking rubbish. He needs to chill. He needs to learn some respect for himself and have some respect for me as well, and realise that I’ve earnt my position, I’ve worked hard.”

Whyte would go on to say that he intervened in order to prevent Fury from being elevated to ‘Franchise champion’ status, which is probably why the WBC have come out to publicly declare that Fury will have to make his mandatory defense before they’d be willing to promote him.

The business of boxing is fickle, though, and a lot can can happen between now and February 2021. Whyte just better make sure he doesn’t take a loss before then, which could be a real possibility against Povetkin.