Tyson Fury has been ordered to defend his WBC heavyweight title against Dillian Whyte.
The British rival has been named the ‘Gypsy King’s’ mandatory challenger by the sanctioning body and the two parties now have 30 days to agree a deal or purse bids will be called.
The organisation said in a statement: “The WBC hereby orders the start of the free negotiations period pursuant to the WBC rules and regulations for the mandatory bout between WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and mandatory challenger and WBC interim world champion Dillian Whyte.”
A war of words between the former sparring partners has been growing since Fury’s knock-out defence of his title against Deontay Wilder in their trilogy fight in Las Vegas on October 9.
Fury then had a window of 30 days to set up a blockbuster undisputed clash with Oleksandr Usyk, who took the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO titles from Anthony Joshua in September.
There had been talk of Joshua stepping aside to allow the two champions to meet in the ring, but Joshua triggered his contractual clause to force a rematch with the Ukrainian.
In the meantime, Whyte pulled out of an October bout with Otto Wallin. When Fury’s 30-day deadline passed without an agreement to fight Usyk, the WBC did not immediately order the Whyte fight due to the challenger’s ongoing arbitration dispute against it.
However, it has now done so and a mouth-watering all-British fight is likely to take place in February or March, with Cardiff and Manchester mooted as potential locations.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel