Hearn wants Dillian Whyte to face Wilder as replacement

By Boxing News - 09/29/2017 - Comments

Image: Hearn wants Dillian Whyte to face Wilder as replacement

By Scott Gilfoid: Dillan Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn has reportedly approached WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs) in hopes of having Whyte (21-1, 16 KOs) replace Luis “King Kong” Ortiz (27-0, 23 KOs) as his opponent for his November 4 fight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Ortiz tested positive for the drugs chlorothaizide and hydrochlorothiazide in his A-sample, and he’s now out of the Wilder fight. If a replacement is going to take place for Wilder to remain on the November 4th card, it’s likely going to be Bermane Stiverne rather than Whyte, according to Dan Rafael. Stiverne is already fighting on the same card. It would be easy for Stiverne to move up and face Wilder. It’s a fight that has to take place sooner or later anyway due to Stiverne being the #1 WBC mandatory for Wilder.

”No excuses now Bronze Bomber. I will take Ortiz’s place let’s get it made @EddieHearn @premierboxing #ALWAYSREADY,” said Whyte on his social media account.

When Hearn approached Wilder in the past with a $3 million offer for him to defend his title against Whyte, the “Bronze Bomber” shot back with a request of $7 million. If Wilder still wants big money to defend his WBC title against Whyte, it’s unlikely that he’ll agree to use Whyte as his substitute. Whyte is rated #3 by the WBC, behind #1 WBC Bermane Stiverne and #2 WBC Luis Ortiz.

Stiverne is Wilder’s mandatory challenger. Is Wilder is going to take a voluntary defense, he’s probably not going to want to want to face Whyte. He’s not well known to the casual boxing fans in the U.S, and it’s not a fight that will generate a lot of interest in the States the way that a match against the unbeaten Ortiz would have. Ortiz had fought in the U.S a number of times, and he’d looked good. Whyte has fought in the U.S just once in an off TV mismatch against journeyman Malcolm Tann on the undercard of the Terence Crawford vs. Julius Indongo card on August 19 in Lincoln, Nebraska. it was good that Whyte fought in the U.S, but it was bad that he fought a poor opponent at the journeyman level in a fight that wasn’t televised in the States. As such, there’s no real upside for Wilder to fight Whyte unless he’s feeling charitable.

Negotiations for a fight between Wilder and Whyte would take time. Wilder would have to start training for Whyte without knowing if the negotiations would get hammered out in time for the November 4th date to work. It’s not doable.

With Hearn talking about wanting to match IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua against Wilder in February or March next year, there’s no incentive for Wilder to fight Whyte. Wilder-Joshua is a big enough fight as it is without Wilder needing to do Hearn any favors by fighting one of his Matchroom Sport stable fighters in Dillian Whyte, who arguably was beaten last December by Dereck Chisora. That’s the fight that Hearn needs to be making, a rematch between Chisora and Whyte. Instead of trying to get Wilder to give Whyte a title shot that he doesn’t deserve based on his 7th round knockout loss to Joshua just 6 fights ago on December 12, 2015, Hearn should be making the rematch between Chisora and Whyte. That would be a good fight for the British boxing public to watch.

The 38-year-old Cuban Ortiz was supposed to face Wilder on Showtime Boxing in the U.S on November 4. It was a fight that the fans were really interested in seeing. The highly talented Ortiz had knocked out most of his opponents, and he looked to some people like the second best heavyweight in the division behind only Wilder. Ortiz was the perfect setup for Wilder to face before he meets up with Joshua next year in a big unification fight. Unfortunately, “King Kong” Ortiz tested positive for the banned substances in a Voluntary Anti-Doping Association drug test, and the Wilder-Ortiz fight has now been officially canceled.

Wilder vs. Ortiz would have been the second biggest fight of 2017, behind only the Wladimir Klitschko vs. Joshua fight that took place on April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Wilder-Ortiz was an arguably better fight than that one, as Wladimir was coming off of a defeat to Tyson Fury and a 2-year layoff from boxing at the time he fought Joshua last April. Ortiz and Wilder are both active heavyweights at the top of their game. You couldn’t say that about the 41-yar-old Klitschko. He wasn’t active and he clearly wasn’t at the top of his game. When Wladimir was in his late 20s, he would have been a nightmare for Joshua to fight. But at 41 and coming off of a loss and a 2-year layoff, Wladimir wasn’t nearly the same fighter that he once was.

Wilder-Ortiz would was the perfect fight for the boxing public. It’s just bad news that Ortiz is no longer facing Wilder, because a win over the Cuban would have setup a monster of a fight between Wilder and Joshua in 2018. Whyte is no replacement for a talent like Ortiz. I hate to say it, but Whyte would be a poor replacement for Ortiz, and I don’t see him as worthy for Wilder to fight unless Hearn wants to come up with a good money offer to get the Bronze Bomber to agree to the fight. A $7 million offer for Wilder to face Whyte, I think the fight would get made straightaway. Hearn just needs to come up with the green stuff for Wilder to wet his beak to get him to agree to let Whyte replace Ortiz.

World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman let the fans know late Thursday night about Ortiz’s positive drug test, saying the WBC ”has received confirmation from VADA that Luis Ortiz has tested positive for a banned substance.”

Ortiz’s positive drug test was from his A-sample for the drugs chlorothaizide and hydrochlorothiazide, which are both diuretics. Ortiz previously tested positive for banned drugs back in 2014

“I can verify the information Mauricio put out,” said promoter Lou DiBella to ESPN.com. “I’m flabbergasted and particularly crestfallen for my fighter. Deontay Wilder is a great champion and a clean champion and probably has been victimized more than any other fighter in the history of the sport.”

It’s unclear what’s going to happen with Wilder’s November 4th fight card now that he’s no longer facing Ortiz. It’s going to have to be worked out by Dibella, Showtime Boxing, as well as Wilder. One possibility for the November 4th card to be saved is for the co-feature bout between former heavyweight world champion Bermane Stiverne and Dominic Breazeale to be moved to the main event. Wilder would then be off the card entirely. That’s obviously not a good thing, but it would be difficult for a good opponent to be picked out in time to have Wilder fighting in the main event.

The November 4 date is just a little over 1 month away. Talented heavyweights like Deontay don’t take on challengers without a full 8 weeks to prepare for the style of opponent that he’s facing. It wouldn’t be fair to Wilder, and more importantly, it wouldn’t be fair to the boxing fans that will be tuning in to watch him fight. Wilder needs a full camp to get ready for his next opponent. Even if Wilder did want to throw Whyte a bone by giving him a title shot, negotiating the fight would likely take weeks if not months to get completed. You can’t have negotiations going on when you have a little over 1 month to prepare for the November 4 fight. That wouldn’t work at all.