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Frank Warren defends Fury vs Whyte undercard, says he's 'still working' on it

Frank Warren says he is “still working” on another fight on the undercard of Tyson Fury’s heavyweight world title defence against Dillian Whyte.

The Queensbury Promotions chief has come under fire after announcing a £24.95 PPV package for the Wembley Stadium fight on April 23.
Fury is expected to take the ring against his domestic rival at 10pm on the night of the fight with the undercard highlight pitting Anthony Cacace vs Jonathan Romero in a super featherweight clash, as well as Tommy Fury vs Daniel Bocianski.

Isaac Lowe vs Nick Ball, David Adeleye vs Chris Healey, Karol Itauma vs Michal Ciach, Royston Barney-Smith vs Jahfieus Faure and Kurt Walker against a TBC opponent will also take place on April 23.

But the undercard has had its critics, including boxing analyst Spencer Oliver and talkSPORT's Simon Jordan, who say there should be a big-name on there.

Warren has defended the line-up and says they are working under certain conditions at HA9 0FA.

"Let me tell you first of all what's happened. Wembley - we can't get in there until 6pm. So at 6pm the doors open and fighting starts," Warren told talkSPORT.

"It's a good fighting undercard.

"The ring has to be cleared by 9:30pm because Tyson's fight will be on at 10pm, because there's a curfew there, we can't be there after 11pm.

"So we've got three-and-a-half hours for boxing, we've got seven fights on in those three-and-a-half hours.
"I'd have loved to put Anthony Yarde on, but unfortunately I can't risk him fighting at the moment.
"Joe Smith Jr is fighting Artur Beterbiev for the [WBC, IBF and WBO light-heavyweight] unification fight in about eight weeks' time.
"He [Yarde] has got the winner, so I don't want him getting injured. Even if he was on there, I'd have given him a pretty easy job because I don't want him risking that position - and I'd have probably got some stick over that."

Joe Joyce has a broken hand

Warren also revealed he was desperate to get some more high-level heavyweight action on the Wembley card.
"Daniel Dubois, I'd love him to have been on the undercard, but he's got the WBA ['regular'] heavyweight title fight, so he can't be on there," said Warren.
"I'd love for him to have got the exposure on the card.
"Joe Joyce has got a broken wrist, I can't get him on there.
"Hamzah Sheeraz - it's ramadan, so he can't box.
"That's where we are, so what we've done is make some real good quality fights that will be good fights to watch.
"Cacace's the British champion, he's 19-1, he's fighting the former world champion who's 34-1.
"That is a good, competitive fight that will please the crowd.

'This will be a war'

"Tyson, every time he fights his great friend Isaac Lowe fights on the card. He's in with a young lad called Nick Ball who's 14-0.

"Nick Ball, you're gonna like him, this will be a war. I really do rate Nick Ball, he's been sparring with quite a few world champions like Josh Warrington and they'll tell you what a handful he is.

"We've also got David Adeleye on there, an up and coming young heavyweight.
"Tommy Fury's on there, he was supposed to have fought Jake Paul, but he had a rib injury.
"He's back and he'll be on there fighting a decent guy from Poland.
"We've got the 2018 youth [Olympics] gold medallist, one of our youngsters Karol Itauma. He's an eight-time national champion.
"We've also got Royston Barney-Smith. He's 18 years old, just turned professional, two-time European gold medallist. Won 36 out of 37 fights representing England.
"And we've got young Kurt Walker who's 1-0. They're good fights."

Warren 'working' on another fight

Warren highlighted that he was putting seven fights on the undercard and said the last world title fight at Wembley only had four fights on the undercard.
Jordan though was insistent he wanted a "marquee" name in the build-up.
"Well I understand that, I hear what you're saying and I understand that, and by the way we still are working on another fight," added Warren.
"And if I do that I've gotta take somebody off the card.
"So we are working still, but if you want to see fights where the guys are gonna stand and trade with each other, those two fights (Lowe vs Ball, Cacace vs Romero) will deliver."
Read more: Tyson Fury wants to shine vs Dillian Whyte in WBC heavyweight fight, says Frank Warren

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