By Scott Gilfoid: Eddie Hearn believes there’s a possibility that Dillian ‘The Body Snatcher’ Whyte could face former WBA heavyweight world champion Lucas ‘Big Daddy’ Browne on February 3rd at the O2 Arena in London, England.
Whyte-Browne is a fight that Hearn wants to make if Browne doesn’t face WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker next. Right now, Browne is believed to be the Plan-B option for Parker if he can’t negotiate a deal with Hearn for a unification fight between Parker and IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
That fight remains up in the air, as Hearn has already declined to give Parker a 65-35 cut of the revenue that he’s asking for. It appears that Hearn is willing to walk away from that fight if he has to. He’s talking about wanting to match Whyte against Joshua in 2018, and he says he’s only 1 fight away from fighting for a world title.
“He’s going to return, it looks like February 3 at The O2,” Hearn said to skysports.com about Whyte. ”He may fight Lucas Browne, particularly if Joshua gets the Parker fight, because Browne is in the mix for that one too.”
Whyte (22-1, 16 KOs) would be catching the 38-year-old Browne (25-0, 22 KOs) at the right time if he faces him in February. Browne has not been all that active since being stripped of his WBA heavyweight title by the World Boxing Association last year after testing positive for the banned substance cleanbuterol following his 10th round knockout win over WBA World heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev on March 5, 2016. Since that fight, Browne has fought just once in stopping 40-year-old journeyman Matthew Greer (16-21) in the 2nd round on June 2.
Whyte is ranked No.1 by the World Boxing Council after beating fringe contender Robert Helenius by a 12 round unanimous decision on October 28 in Cardiff, Wales. That was an awful performance from the 29-year-old Whyte. He showed little in the way of punching power, form or boxing skills. Whyte just looked like a big slow guy that was throwing wild shots all night long. The way that Whyte fought, he would be easy work for the top heavyweights in the division. Hearn needs to get Whyte a title shot soon, as he’s going to get beaten if he’s put in with a halfway decent heavyweight. The power that Whyte once had in his left hook is all but gone now following surgery on his shoulder in 2015. Whyte is now a one-armed fighter for all intents and purposes. He uses his right hand for almost all his power shots, and he doesn’t possess a lot of power in that hand.
Deontay Wilder has already turned down an offer by Hearn to defend his WBC title against Whyte on February 3. Wilder wanted $7 million for the fight. Hearn offered less than that, so the fight failed to get made. Wilder was open to fighting Whyte if the money was right, and if Hearn would tie in the fight with a match against Joshua immediately after. Hearn wouldn’t do that unfortunately. It’s unclear why though. Logically, you would think that Hearn would be readily agreeable to tie in a Wilder-Whyte fight with a fight with Joshua. Hearn had his reasons for not giving Wilder that deal.
”Dillian, we want to get him a shot at the belt. 2018, looking at the rankings, it’s a matter of when, not if,” said Hearn.
It sounds like Hearn is going to put Whyte and Joshua back inside the ring for a rematch in 2018. Hearn can’t force Wilder to fight Whyte, as the WBC must order that fight first, and they haven’t done it. Wilder just defended against his WBC mandatory in Bermane Stiverne, which means he’s got at least a year before he needs to worry about making another mandatory defense.
The way that Whyte looked against Helenius, you would have to favor Lucas Browne over him. Browne is a much bigger puncher than Whyte, and he could get him out of there the same way Joshua did. The one thing that might hurt Browne’s chances of winning is the fight will take place in the UK. As the visiting fighter, Browne might have trouble winning a decision unless he does something remarkable like drop Whyte two or three times along the way.