Eddie Hearn has quashed any rumours that Frank Warren voicing his admiration for Dillian Whyte was anything more than just words.

The 66-year-old has many top stars already on his billing, with the likes of Tyson Fury, Josh Warrington and Nicola Adams, but it seems that Warren may now have his eye on the number one heavyweight contender.

Hearn has been under considerable pressure to organise Whyte v Joshua 2, and after his big win against Dereck Chisora, the Villain is desperate for a rematch with Britain's golden boy and a shot at the world titles.

Whyte cast further doubt over his future with Matchroom boxing after describing himself as a free agent just last week, which may have contributed to the attention from Warren.

Having a fight-by-fight contract may also deter the 30-year-old from any future endeavours with the Hearn franchise, if Queensberry promotions or even Showtime boxing can table a better offer.

The stalemate that the talks seem to have hit may centre around the anticipation to see Joshua vs Wilder, as the big money fight is seemingly in a unification bout.

Warren has recently gone public about his affections for the 30-year-old, and Hearn was asked for his thoughts on his rival promoter going after one of his fighters.

"If I was Frank Warren I'd be wanting to sign Dillian Whyte too," Hearn told Sky Sports' Toe2Toe.

Hearn then added a rather ambiguous follow up:

"He's got people like Billy Joe Saunders, it's a similar sort of situation, if Billy wants to come and fight on DAZN and earn millions and millions of dollars and fight the likes of Canelo and Andrade he's more than welcome to sign with us.

"I'm sure he's got some fighters we'd like to sign and we've got some fighters he'd like to sign. So I don't really get too caught up with it.

It seems that Hearn may have used Saunders as a warning to Queensberry promotions that if Warren is tempted to poach from Matchroom Sport, Hearn will not hesitate in using a similar tactic, as he has shown in the past.

Hearn later went on to discuss the future of his number one contender, in regards to his chances of securing a world title shot against Joshua in April.

He added: "It's not been easy because I want to deliver that fight with Joshua for Dillian Whyte.

"There's a disparency between what Dillian Whyte thinks he's worth in the fight, and what Anthony Joshua thinks he's worth in the fight.

"My job is to try and provide a world title shot for Dillian Whyte, and we're on the verge of that now."