Tyson Fury vs. Dillian Whyte set for world heavyweight title clash after historic purse bid

The pair of top heavyweights will finally clash after some last-minute negotiating tactics fell through

After years of waiting, Dillian Whyte will finally get his shot at the WBC heavyweight championship. Whyte, the WBC interim champion, will clash with champion Tyson Fury after the bout was made official in a purse bid on Friday. Frank Warren's Queensbury Promotions won the right to promote the fight with an astonishing bid of $41,025,000, beating out the $32,222,222 bid of Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing. Warren is Fury's co-promoter, along with Top Rank's Bob Arum.

The fight nearly didn't happen as Whyte (28-2, 19 KO) and former IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua reportedly agreed to accept step-aside money to allow a four-belt unification between Fury (31-0-1, 22 KO) and Oleksandr Usyk, who won his three belts from Joshua this past September.

The parties attempted a last-minute renegotiation of the step-aside fees, according to a report from ESPN, leading to the entire thing collapsing and the WBC ordering a final deadline of Friday for Fury and Whyte to work out a deal or have the fight go to purse bid. The WBC had previously delayed the bid multiple times to allow the parties to attempt to work out the situation among themselves.