Dillian Whyte vs. Dereck Chisora unlikely in 2016

By Boxing News - 07/29/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: After a great deal of back and forth jawing at each other, it appears that British heavyweights Dillian Whyte (17-1, 14 KOs) and Dereck Chisora (25-6, 17 KOs) won’t be fighting in 2016.

According to Chisora’s promoter Kalle Sauerland, the talk between him and Whyte’s promoter has gone quiet for the fight. Sauerland still believes the Whyte vs. Chisora fight can happen, but it might need to wait until 2017. In the meantime, Sauerland is interested in matching Chisora back up with the 6’6” Robert Helenius in a rematch.

Chisora wants to avenge his controversial 12 round split decision loss from 2011. That’s a fight that took place in Helsinki, Finland. Helenius suffered a right shoulder injury during the fight, which left him one-armed for the most part during the second half of the contest.

Chisora smothered his own work by standing too close to Helenius, and it was a difficult fight to score. I had Helenius edging Chisora based on his cleaner landing shots in the first half of the fight.

“Unfortunately it’s all gone a bit quiet,” Sauerland said to skysports.com about the Whyte vs. Chisora fight. “We’re there, though. We definitely want to do it. December would be great. I think Dell would get out in September, he’s ticking along, and he’d love to do it.”

Whyte, 28, has a fight this Saturday night against unbeaten Dave Allen (9-0-1, 6 KOs) on the undercard of the Josh Warrington vs. Patrick Hyland card at the First Direct Arena in Leeds. Whyte is expected to win the fight, but you never know. Whyte did not look good in his last fight against Ivica Bacurin last June in stopping him in the 6th round.

Whyte’s surgically repaired left shoulder didn’t look strong, as he rarely threw punches with his left hand. When Whyte did throw an occasional left hand, it lacked punching power and he appeared to have less than full flexibility with the arm. Since that fight took place just last month, it’s hard to imagine Whyte’s left arm being any better for his fight against Allen on Saturday night.

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I think it would be a really bad idea for Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn to put him in with Chisora at this point, because his left shoulder doesn’t look strong enough for him to take on a tough opponent. Whyte can probably beat a limited fighter like Dave Allen just using his right hand, but it would be a different story with Chisora. Whyte’s right hand isn’t good enough for him to beat Chisora one-handed the way that Vitali Klitschko did in their fight in 2012.

Vitali suffered a left shoulder injury in the 2nd round against Chisora, and he was forced to fight him with just his right hand. The 6’7” Vitali adapted by turning southpaw and using his right hand to jab Chisora silly for the next 10 rounds to get a one-sided 12 round decision. Whyte isn’t tall enough to do the same thing Vitali did.

It would be better for Hearn to wait and see whether Whyte’s left shoulder ever improves. If it doesn’t, then he’ll need to eventually put him in with guys like Chisora so that he can have meaningful fights. But it’ll be next to impossible for Whyte to do anything on the world stage without his left shoulder at 100 percent of where it was before the injury.

“I spoke to [Whyte’s promoter] Eddie Hearn and we have a basic understanding of how the deal would work,” said Sauerland. But it seems to have gone quiet from the Dillian Whyte side – I’m not baiting anyone, if it happens next year that’s absolutely fine.”

Whyte has other options available to him after he gets past Allen on Saturday. Former light heavyweight world champion Antonio Tarver is interested in facing him. There’s also different options for fights against top heavyweight contenders if Hearn is willing to throw Whyte in the deep end right now.

I think Whyte would need to look really good on Saturday night against Allen for him to be moved to the next level against an actual contender, because he didn’t impress against Bacurin. I wouldn’t think it would be a good idea for Whyte to be matched against a top contender just year. I would wait until 2017 before making a fight between him and a live body. Shoulder problems take a while to come back from. David Haye was able to come back from his shoulder problem, but he was out of the ring for ages. Whyte hasn’t had the long time off from boxing to strengthen his left shoulder like Haye did with surgically repaired right shoulder.

Chisora looked mediocre in losing to Kubrat Pulev last May by a 12 round split decision. The fight was a split decision, but it was very, very one-sided. I’m not sure what fight the referee was watching that scored it for Chisora, but it sure as heck wasn’t the one that I saw. Chisora looked well past it in that fight. That’s the problem; Chisora hasn’t put in a really good effort in the ring since his fight against the injured Klitschko four years ago. Chisora has looked slow, lazy and very average in his wins over fodder level opposition since then. Further, each time that Chisora has stepped it up since the Vitali fight, he’s been smacked down in losses to David Haye, Tyson Fury and Pulev.