Tyson Fury has labelled Dillian Whyte a 'b****' and a 'coward' as he urged his heavyweight rival to break his silence after a deal was struck for the pair to finally square off in April.

The Gypsy King will defend his WBC world heavyweight title against Whyte in a UK homecoming fight after his trans-Atlantic promotional pair Frank Warren and Bob Arum won a purse bid in Mexico City last week with an offer of $42million (£30m).

It will be Fury's first bout since he settled his trilogy series with Deontay Wilder back in October and his first in the UK since 2018.

Reports on Monday suggested that Warren and Arum have pencilled in April 23 as the date for the clash between the former sparring partners. 

And Fury has now called out his opponent in a video posted on Twitter, where he asks Whyte to show himself and respond to the news that a deal has been struck for them to fight. 

Fury, who looked like he was working out at the time, said: 'This is a message for Dillian Whyte. Whyte feathers, coward. Where are you Whyte feathers?

'You wanted your world-title shot with (Deontay) Wilder for three years and you never got it.

'You were mandatory for me for three minutes and you got your fight didn't you, you coward. "Tyson Fury's a coward. He doesn't want to fight Dillian Whyte."

'But all of a sudden it's on your toes and you've gone silent, you little b****. Come out, come out of hiding Whyte feathers. Come and get it.

'You're going to get a good hiding. You wanted a bit of free money, didn't you dosser?

'But now you're getting £8m, which is £7.5m too much for you, you old dosser. Come out and say something, bum.' 

It's said that the official announcement for the date and location is expected next week.

Cardiff's Principality Stadium is seen as the most likely venue to hold the fight because it has a retractable roof.

Wembley and Fury's home town of Manchester - possibly at Old Trafford - are in also in the running to stage his showdown with Whyte. 

There had been a number of deadlines to agree the clash between the two heavyweights, with the purse bid instructed for Friday if the final deadline was not met.

The offer from Warren and Arum dwarfed that of Eddie Hearn, who had hoped to snatch the rights with 'an offer reflecting the true value of the fight'.

The winning bid also saved Team Fury the total £20.5m they were prepared to pay Anthony Joshua and Whyte between them to step aside to allow the Gypsy King to fight AJ's conqueror Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed world heavyweight championship.

Joshua, who could have made a second financial killing by challenging the winner of that fight later this year, will now enact his contractual right to a rematch against Usyk, which is expected to take place in London in May.

Warren - in refuting Hearn's claim that Fury had backed out of fighting Usyk first and foremost - asserted that negotiations crashed when Joshua 'suddenly demanded' an extra £5m on top of his agreed £15m to step aside.

That prompted Fury to lambast Joshua and Hearn as 'the worst businessmen in the world'.

Whyte also stands to lose out to some extent financially in what is his first shot at a world title, given the WBC have ordered a purse split of 80 to 20 per cent in favour of Fury as champion.