By Sam Holderness: Earlier this month on the 10th of December, British heavyweights Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora shocked the world in delivering a barnstormer of a fight that matched the WWE level of antics in the buildup.
The rock-em sock-em tradeoffs were a certainly not expected from a seemly European level fighter on the up and a fighter perceived to be over the hill after a few lackluster performances. Whyte won the fight by a 12 round split decision by the scores 115-113, 115-114 for Whyte, and 115-114 for Chisora.
The back and forth action has left fans (at least in the UK) begging for more and initial interviews with all parties (Whyte, Chisora and Anthony Joshua and Whyte’s promotor Eddie Hearn) seemed to infer this was a done deal. However, Whyte has made it known recently via his twitter profile that he is targeting former WBC World Heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne in an eliminator for the reigning champion Deontay Wilder.
Whyte who is currently in a transition period from a rough and unpredictable fighter (who had a mix of trainers, most notably Emanuel Stewart’s understudy Jonathan Banks) to a more rounded fighter under Tibbs.
There are a lot of questions to be answered yet about the 28-year-old Londoner as his stamina seems to fail him in the latter half of the fight and as a result of this, his punch resistance dips too (which in the heavyweight division is not a favorable floor to have). However, after a hearty performance against his bitter London rival (Chisora) which some say ended with a close and questionable victory, asks a big question. Would an instant return fight be the right thing for the body snatcher’s career?
To fully understand the best path for Whyte (and by that if he should take the rematch) you have to look across the alphabet bodies rankings. The Jamaican-born Londoner is only in the top 10 of one of the heavyweight rankings, the WBC. Making an assault on the WBC his most direct route to a title attempt, however, is Wilder a winnable fight in Whyte’s eyes?
With that in mind, the WBA title is currently vacant? Yet, due to the issues with Lucas Browne failing two drugs test, the fight between him and the people’s champ Shannon Briggs (that was penciled in as an eliminator for the vacant title against Haye) is off. However, former unified champion Wladimir Klitschko has advised the world the WBA have put the fight vs Joshua early next year for the vacant WBA title. Further to that, the IBF belt held by Joshua will also be up for grabs vs Wladimir Klitschko.
This leaves one more major title, the WBO. This belt is held by Joseph Parker and though a fight vs. the untested kiwi may be favorable, the list of fighters higher up the pecking order for a shot at the title is large. So without Hearn pulling a lot of strings and spending even more money, this is unlikely, as does the cost of getting the title outweigh the benefits of having the title? This is not taking into account if he failed to win the title either.
So back to the question at hand, is Wilder a winnable fight (In Whyte’s eyes)?
I believe the answer is yes, Whyte is an extremely confident fighter and as most fighters do he sees Wilder as untested. Additionally, I feel Whyte aims to rematch Joshua to rectify his one professional loss and to do that he has to bring something to the table, a title.
Honestly, I believe this is a fight Wilder would take. As this would draw a lot of interest in the UK and make ties with boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, which as Wilder has stated multiple times he wants both Joshua and Fury making this is a logical step to make this happen.
On the other side of the coin, Stiverne has been extremely inactive after a very poor performance in which he lost his title to the Bronze Bomber, only fighting once against club fighter Derrick Rossy in this past year. So Bermane is quite fortunate to be in a title eliminator still and due to the second drugs offence of Russian Alexander Povetkin this leaves Stiverne with a list of possible names for his eliminator.
If the Las Vegas fighter gets any say in who he fights again, Whyte seems the logical choice. Next down in the WBC rankings from Stiverne, the huge hitting Luis Ortiz. Which, showing a questionable chin in his early loss to Demetrice King would be wise to also avoid. Fourth in the list and another possibility is Kubrat Pulev, the much taller of the fighters has challenged for a title before and a favorable choice too.
Thanks again for reading guys and let me know:
Do you think that Whyte will get a shot vs Stiverne as a final eliminator? (if so do you think he will win that and finally how do you think he would fair against Wilder?)