If Dillian Whyte finally gets the heavyweight title shot he is looking for against compatriot and WBC titlist Tyson Fury, it will be in no small part thanks to the efforts of a relatively unknown 27-year-old boxing promoter from England.
Ben Shalom, the CEO and founder of Boxxer, an upstart British promotional company that has exclusive ties with broadcaster Sky Sports, played go-between for Whyte’s team in their negotiations with Fury’s team, which consists of Bob Arum of Top Rank Inc. and Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions. The relationship between the two sides for the fighters was so frayed, according to Shalom, that the tenderfoot was brought in as the chief liaison. Whyte, the mandatory for Fury, had previously rejected Team Fury’s initial offer, leading to a stalemate, as he was unhappy with the purse.
While Shalom may not have the promotional bonafides of Arum or Warren, his inexperience, in this case, was pivotal for getting the sides to communicate leading up to the purse bid on Jan. 28.
“Myself and Dillian and Dillian’s team, we get on,” Shalom told BBC’s 5 Live Boxing. “We trust each other type of thing. They wanted a little support on that fight. I wanted to help out where I could. Obviously I don’t have any sort of animosity with the Warrens and I’m very close with Top Rank. I think Sky can play a big part in the fight as well. It made sense that I could help, where I could, once the step aside fell apart. It was then time to negotiate and see what was the best deal we could possibly get for Dillian.”
Shalom has close ties with the decision makers at Top Rank, as Top Rank, like Shalom’s Boxxer, provides Sky with boxing content.
“I talk to Top Rank everyday,” Shalom said. “We’ve obviously got the Josh Taylor fight [against Jack Catterall on Feb. 26] coming up. I’ve got a very close relationship with [Top Rank president] Todd [duBoef] and [general counsel] Jeremy [Koegel] and the guys at Top Rank.
“Why I’m helpful is that I don’t have any enemies and I get on with the other promoters. It’s as simple as that. Obviously there was a bit of standoff between Dillian’s camp and Top Rank, and obviously Queensberry wanted to get the fight done as well. I was there to help relationships between the parties and get the best deal that we could for Dillian.”
Shalom mentioned that Whyte was not represented by his promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, in these particular discussions, as Hearn was committed to representing his other heavyweight charge, Anthony Joshua, who was reported to have been mulling a possible step aside that would have allowed Fury to bypass Whyte to face WBO, WBA, IBF heavyweight titlist Oleksandr Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) for the undisputed championship.
In the end, there was no step aside, and Warren’s Queensberry won the purse bid with a record offer of $41,025,000 against Hearn’s $32,222,222. Ten percent of the winning bid will be set aside as a bonus for the victor. The 33-year-old Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs), the champion, will be entitled to $29,538,000; the 34-year-old Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) stands to earn $7,384,500. The remaining $4,102,500, to be held in an escrow account, will go to the winner.
Regardless of the entity in charge of putting on the event, Shalom believes the only thing that matters is that Whyte will be getting a career payday, one that makes up for the 80-20 purse split in favor of Fury.
“I’m just really, really glad to be honest, because I didn’t think the splits were fair,” Shalom said. “So I’m really glad the purse is big enough that it’s going to see Dillian get paid very well and obviously he’s got that chance for the 10% going to the winner as well.
“In the end all is well that ended well. I think it’s the fight that should’ve happened. I wouldn’t have liked to see a step aside, personally.”
The WBC has given representatives of Fury and White until Feb. 21 to submit signed contracts for the bout.
