Manuel Charr named as possible opponent for Tyson Fury amid Dillian Whyte talks

German heavyweight Charr has been named as an alternative opponent for Fury if he is unable to agree a deal to face Whyte in March or April after the purse bids continue to stall talks

German star Manuel Charr has been named as an alternate opponent for Tyson Fury if a deal is unable to be agreed with Dillian Whyte.

Fury has been ordered to face Whyte in a WBC mandatory defence who have since mandated an 80 per cent purse split in favour of the champion.

Whyte was unhappy with the purse split that has been ordered and is continuing legal proceedings with the organisation which could delay purse bids which are due tomorrow.

Fury’s promoter Bob Arum has admitted his charge is keen to fight “sooner rather than later” as he plans to fight three times this year after a disrupted 2021.

Arum told talkSPORT : “If Dillian Whyte is not gonna fight for whatever reason, obviously we’re not gonna keep Tyson Fury – not gonna make him pay the price of waiting.

“Fury wants to fight and wants to fight sooner rather than later. We can look around, get a good, decent opponent for him to fight if Whyte isn’t available. You’ve got guys like Robert Helenius and Manuel Charr.

“You just look at the rankings and pick a couple of guys from the rankings who would make decent opponents. I think unless an agreement is reached with Dillian Whyte, it [the purse bid] will go ahead sometime in the coming week.

“Maybe not on Tuesday, maybe on Friday, but there it is. The WBC has decreed that Whyte will get 20 per cent of the purse bid and if the purse bid goes ahead, we’ll figure out what that 20 per cent comes to.

“I’m always optimistic that a deal gets done before the purse bid. I don’t think a purse bid does anybody any good. I think the parties should sit down, there’s plenty of money involved, and just work out a normal deal…

“Obviously there’s talks to try and settle the matter so it goes ahead without purse bids.”

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Charr could have fought Fury back in 2018 during his historic comeback when he held the WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight title and the pair talked up a clash.

This would have been the path for Fury if he hadn’t jumped into a historic title clash with Deontay Wilder after his clash against Francesco Pianeta.

Whyte has been plotting to enforce his mandatory bid ever since becoming interim champion in 2017 but was forced to avenge defeat to Alexander Povetkin last year.

Helenius and Andy Ruiz were initially the pair named as alternative opponents by Fury’s team who have threatened to go elsewhere if talks are not hurried to completion.

Arum also previously claimed that Fury’s domestic rival has demanded a purse of £10 million for the fight which is likely to delay the talks further.

Purse bids are likely to be the way to resolve the standstill according to Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn who is representing Whyte.