Dillian Whyte responds to claims he ‘turned down’ Anthony Joshua fight

Talks between an all-British heavyweight clash have fallen through, according to Eddie Hearn

Dillian Whyte has rubbished claims that he priced himself out of the chance to fight Anthony Joshua.

Promoter Eddie Hearn said on Wednesday that talks between the British heavyweight rivals had fallen through.

Joshua is eyeing a 12 August bout in order to stay sharp ahead of a potential December clash with Deontay Wilder, and Whyte – whom Joshua knocked out in 2015 – was the preferred opponent.

Hearn said an offer was made to Whyte but the 35-year-old’s camp made it clear that the price was “nowhere near their expectations”.

However, Whyte was responded by saying that no negotiations took place over the proposed bout.

“They’re talking rubbish,” Whyte said, according to the Daily Mail.

“All I got, after Eddie talked publicly and often about making me an offer to fight AJ, was a very short email late in the evening on Friday 2 June.

“I absolutely 100 per cent want to fight AJ and called Eddie to discuss the offer but couldn’t get hold of him. I messaged him too. I didn’t hear back from him so I sent him an email to confirm I wanted the fight.

“I didn’t turn down the offer or propose a counter-offer. All I did was ask normal questions on his three-line email so-called offer.

“Even before I emailed, Eddie was already saying publicly that his offer was unacceptable. So, why make it in the first place?

"Let’s be very clear here, I told him I wanted the fight, I didn’t turn it down and I didn’t price myself out and in fact have not had a single discussion about it with Matchroom since the ‘offer’ and I didn’t make any demands."

Agit Kabayel has already been linked with Joshua while Jarrell Miller, who was due to box ‘AJ’ in 2019, has also been linked.