Lucas Browne’s manager wants fair purse for Whyte fight

Boxingnews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid: Heavyweight Lucas ‘Big Daddy’ Browne (25-0, 22 KOs) says it’s up to Dillian ‘The Body Snatcher’ Whyte (23-1, 16 KOs) if they’re going to fight or not, because the money that was offered to him for a fight on March 24 was not what he’s looking for to take the fight.

Browne’s manager Matt Clark says the offer was less than $300,000 to take the fight with Whyte. He wants a “fair” offer for them to agree to the fight. Browne says he’s counting on Whyte not getting greedy with the money.

Whyte, 29, is in charge of finances for the Browne fight, according to Browne. Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn is going to speak with him to see if he’s interested in making a better offer to Browne. It appears there’s only a set amount of money in the pot, according to Browne, that can be divided up between him and Whye. If Whyte is hogging all the cash for himself, then that leaves Browne with less than $300K for himself. Just how much less is unclear.

“I heard from my promotional team this morning. They informed me that Eddie Hearn has been in touch and he said that Whyte is in control of the financials,” said Browne. ” I guess that means there’s a certain amount in the pot for the fight. Apparently, Eddie is going to have one last try to get Whyte to move,” said Browne.

It doesn’t sound too promising that the Whyte vs. Browne fight will get made. If Whyte isn’t willing to give Browne a bigger cut, then the fight won’t get done. Hearn will need to find someone else to fight Whyte on March 24, and we could have the same exact problem that we’re now dealing with. If Whyte wants the lion’s share of the loot, then he’s not going to get a big enough name to bring in the boxing fans.

Hearn was lucky he was able to get Robert Helenius to agree to fight Whyte last October in Cardiff, Wales. I guess it doesn’t matter though. Whyte is already rated No.1 by the World Boxing Council after his victory over Helenius. As soon as the WBC gets around to ordering the Wilder vs. Whyte fight, then we’ll see ‘The Body snatcher’ get his title shot.

Australian Heavyweight Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne says the ball is firmly in Dillian Whyte’s court as to whether the proposed clash on March 24 is to go ahead. The bout has been slated for the O2 Arena in London and both boxers have been very vocal in calling for the fight to be made.

“There were rumors on the net that we had been offered $300,000,” said Browne’s manager Matt Clark. ”I can categorically say that the purse we are asking for is less than that. We want a fair purse for Lucas for what will be an absolute tear up of a fight.”

Wow, so Browne isn’t even being offered $300K for the Whyte fight. That’s bad. You would think that Browne would at least be getting $500,000 minimum for the Whyte fight. If Wilder is being offered $4 million for the Whyte fight, then how is it Browne is only being given an offer of less than $300,000? It sounds like Hearn is trying to get Browne on the cheap to take the fight. It’s not worth it for him to take small money and then have to travel to the UK and fight in front of Whyte’s boxing fans. It’s bad enough that Browne is going to have to fight in the UK as a visitor for the Whyte fight.

“I just hope Whyte doesn’t deny the fans this fight,” Browne said. “I have an option in the United States that has a lot more money on the table and against a top notch opponent, but coming to London and belting Whyte in front of the fantastic UK boxing crowd is my preferred choice. Let’s hope Dillian isn’t too greedy. I know he’ll be earning more than me, that’s fine. I just want a fair amount and I’ll sign the deal, train, fly over to London and bash him,” said Browne.

So there it is. Browne hopes Whyte doesn’t get too greedy. Hearn isn’t saying how much Whyte is getting for the fight with Browne. It wouldn’t surprise me if Whyte is getting 2 to 3 times more than Browne is for the fight. The thing is, if Browne rejects the lowball offer, then Hearn is going to need to rush to find someone that’s suitable to take the fight on short notice. There’s still enough time right now for Hearn to get someone like Hughie Fury to take the fight, but I don’t think he’s to agree to $200,000 for a fight with Whyte. Hughie will likely want a 50-50 deal for a fight with Whyte. It would be a big fight in the UK. It would be worth a lot potentially for Hughie. I doubt he would take the fight.

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