Eddie Hearn is more than willing to negotiate with Tyson Fury’s handlers on behalf of Dillian Whyte for their mandated WBC heavyweight title fight.

If Fury’s side wants an 80-20 purse split in Fury’s favor, however, that’ll bring an abrupt end to those talks. Carl Moretti, Top Rank’s vice president of boxing operations, petitioned the WBC at its annual convention last month for an 80-20 split, but the WBC hasn’t made that a stipulation for negotiations.

Purse splits for mandated WBC championship bouts typically favor the champion, 70-30. Hearn replied “absolutely” when the British promoter was asked by FightHype during an interview posted recently to its YouTube page if it’d take more than an 80-20 split to get Whyte to agree to a deal.

If the two sides don’t willingly come to an agreement within the open negotiating period the WBC ordered to begin last week, the WBC would order a purse bid.

“Well, I think, you know, what we really need to know is what’s the split gonna be, because that really reflects on the negotiation process for that fight,” Hearn told FightHype. “So, we would like to put a major offer in to stage that fight. Obviously, Top Rank will be as well. And we certainly don’t rule out doing a deal. But it has to be the right deal for Dillian Whyte and yet it has to be a fair reflection of his value in that fight.”

Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) is co-promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. and Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions. Hearn, who has a longstanding domestic rivalry with Warren, is the promotional representative for the Jamaican-born, London-based Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs).

Arum informed krikya360.com recently that he and Warren want to stage the Fury-Whyte fight sometime in March either at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, or AO Arena in Fury’s hometown of Manchester, England.

Fury, 33, hasn’t fought in the United Kingdom since August 2018, when he defeated Italy’s Francesco Pianeta by unanimous decision in a 10-rounder at Windsor Park in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The 6-feet-9, 277-pound Fury’s past five fights have taken place in the United States, either in Las Vegas or Los Angeles.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.