The WBC say Tyson Fury must fight interim champion Dillian Whyte before facing Anthony Joshua if he is to retain the title.
Fury and Joshua have announced that they have a two-fight deal in place for next year to determine who will be the undisputed heavyweight champion.
Fury will needs to give Deontay Wilder his rematch first while Joshua has a mandatory defence in the form of Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev.
And there is another hurdle for Fury to get over with Whyte having taken legal advice over the WBC’s treatment of him after nearly 1000 days as the sanctioning body’s recognised No 1 contender.
But WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman claims Whyte will get his title shot while adding Fury’s fight with AJ is ‘just speculation.’
Tyson Fury says he's greatest, greater than Ali and Joe Louis. Fury is best heavywt today. But his bragging coincides this week with Louis' quick KO of Schmeling 82-years ago (6-22). Louis-Schmeling 2 might be history's biggest heavywt fight. Nothing on Fury's record compares.
— Norm Frauenheim (@FrauenheimNorm) June 22, 2020
He told Boxing Insider Radio: ‘For the WBC there is a mandatory title defence that the champion has to make.
‘The mandatory challenger is the interim champion, Dillian Whyte.
‘He [Whyte] has the right to enforce his title shot after the Wilder vs Fury third fight. Fury vs Joshua is just speculation.
‘They have both come out and said that they have a deal which is very good. But there are many things that must take place before it actually happens.
‘Right now we don’t know when boxing is going to resume for some specific fights, such as the rematch between Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury.
‘We don’t know if that fight will happen October, November, December, next year.
‘We cannot control that. But for the WBC there is a legal contract that they signed for a third fight (between Fury and Wilder).’
‘He [Whyte] has the right to enforce his title shot after the Wilder vs Fury third fight. Fury vs Joshua is just speculation.
‘They have both come out and said that they have a deal which is very good. But there are many things that must take place before it actually happens.
‘Right now we don’t know when boxing is going to resume for some specific fights, such as the rematch between Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury.
‘We don’t know if that fight will happen October, November, December, next year.
‘We cannot control that. But for the WBC there is a legal contract that they signed for a third fight (between Fury and Wilder).’
