The WBC have confirmed Tyson Fury will have to face his mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte before he can fight Anthony Joshua in an undisputed dust-up next year.

Earlier this month it was revealed that Fury and Joshua had reached a ‘financial agreement’ to a two-fight deal, the first of which would take place in 2021.

However, The Gypsy King is contractually obliged to face American Deontay Wilder for a third time later this year and now also has the complication of Whyte requiring his shot before February 2021.

And speaking to Boxing Insider Radio, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman insisted Whyte’s position is not being altered at this stage.

He said: "For the WBC there is a mandatory title defense 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)."

Whyte recently began taking legal action against the WBC to ensure his mandatory title shot is granted to him by February next year.

The 32-year-old has strung an 11-fight winning streak together since 2015, beating world title challengers such as Lucas Browne, Joseph Parker, Oscar Rivas and Dereck Chisora twice.