Leading heavyweight contender Dillian ‘The Body Snatcher’ Whyte 25-1 (18) has slammed promoter Eddie Hearn, saying that negotiations for a proposed Anthony Joshua 22-0 (21) fight at London’s Wembley Stadium on April 13 were never undertaken in good faith.
Whyte, 30, is a promotional stablemate of the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion.
“It’s clear to me that they have never been serious about making a fight with me for April 13,” Whyte said to Telegraph Sport. “If they were serious, they should have started negotiating sooner and with more realistic terms. The way he is going about business, Joshua won’t be fighting me, Wilder, or Fury any time soon.
“They’ve had the [Wembley Stadium] date booked for ages, and have known AJ was available since he beat Alexander Povetkin on 22 September, yet didn’t even make an initial offer until 10 January,” Whyte continued.
“We could have made this fight if Joshua really wanted it but it has been clear to me all along that they’ve been focused on making the Jarrell Miller fight in New York City on [streaming service] DAZN.
“Eddie has been trying to make him and Joshua look like they’ve made a serious attempt to make a fight with me for April 13, but I know Eddie, have dealt with him for years and he didn’t make a real attempt.
“Eddie is very good at what he does, his hands must be tied or he would have offered me more than 10-15% of what the fight is worth. I’d love to fight AJ but it’s obvious that he doesn’t want it”.
Whyte believes that the offer for the Joshua fight was simply a game of smoke and mirrors designed to help get a fight with undefeated American behemoth Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller 23-0-1 (20) in New York City off the ground.
“Let’s be very clear. They have long been cooking a Miller fight for DAZN at Madison Square Garden in the US. I said that before the Dereck Chisora fight [on December 22]. In spite of having Wembley booked for April 13 for more than six months and knowing that AJ is available since September 22, they made no approaches or offers to me until 10 January.
“Unfortunately it was too little, too late as April 13 was then only 11 weeks away and Eddie knows I need a decent, 14-week camp for that fight. Once you take a week off for fight week, you’re looking at 10 weeks which is nowhere near enough for a fight of that magnitude.”
Whyte says Joshua is looking to take the easy option against Miller in the United States, a fighter he describes as a “cabbage”.
“It’s so obvious. Joshua doesn’t want to fight me,” added Whyte. “He wants to go to America and fight Miller. That is easy money. One hundred per cent this was their plan the whole time. He [Joshua] has had two kind of tough fights and Miller is an easy fight. Miller has got no power but does have a good workrate. He is just a big cabbage and Joshua will punch him to bits.”
 has slammed promoter Eddie Hearn, saying that negotiations for a proposed Anthony Joshua 22-0 (21) fight at London’s Wembley Stadium on April 13 were never undertaken in good faith.){kind=link}