By Scott Gilfoid: British heavyweight Dereck Chisora (26-7, 18 KOs) and his promoter Nisse Sauerland are hoping to get a rematch against #9 WBC contender Dillian Whyte (20-1, 15 KOs) for May of this year. They want to take advantage of the incredible fan interest from the boxing public in this rivalry.
Whyte, 28, won a controversial 12 round split decision last year in beating Chisora on December 10 on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua vs. Eric Molina on Sky Box Office PPV. Many of the fans saw #11 IBF Chisora as the easy winner, because he had hurt Whyte several times in the fight, and appeared to get the better of him in at least 8 of the 12 rounds.
Despite the tremendous amount of interest in a rematch from fans, Whyte is hoping to cash in on the win by getting a world title shot against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder after his next fight on February 25 against #12 WBC Anrzej Wawzyk in their fight in Birmingham, Alabama.
Whyte and his promoter Eddie Hearn are hopeful they can get the match against Wilder, and then winner of the Wider-Whyte fight faces Joshua in late 2017. Chisora sees that as a pipedream on Whyte’s part. He doesn’t believe he’s going to get a title shot, and he may be right. Why would the 6’7” Deontay bother facing Whyte and risk losing a controversial decision like Chisora did, and then ruin his big money fight against Joshua? That’s the bad thing about controversial decisions.
Once you get a fighter that benefit with a controversial decision, it makes some boxing fans wonder if that fighter is going to keep getting questionable decisions. If Wilder were to fight Whyte it would obviously take place in the UK. That’s bad news for Wilder if he has to fight in front of Whyte’s boxing fans. If he can’t knock him out, does Wilder lose by a controversial decision too? I’m just saying.
Sauerland said this to skysports.com about him wanting Chisora vs. Whyte rematch in May:
“May has been talked about and I know that Dereck will definitely be ready for that date,” said Sauerland. “There is enough demand to make the fight happen. We definitely want the fight.”
I think the Whyte-Chisora rematch is the best possible option for Whyte. Believe me, he isn’t going to get a title shot against Wilder in 2017. He can forget that. Wilder is going to wait on the Joshua unification fight in late 2017. That’s where all that sweet cash is for Wilder. Fighting Whyte would be for walking around money in comparison.