By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten heavyweight prospect Dillian Whyte (14-0, 11 KOs) will be getting a shot at the British heavyweight title.
The British Boxing Board of Control has ordered purse bids for a fight between Whyte and the current British heavyweight champion Tyson Fury for his British title in a fight this summer.
There’s no way that Fury will take that fight because it’s too dangerous, and he’s looking to get a title shot against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko this year. Fury, 6’9”, isn’t about to risk his hide against a big puncher like Whyte, who defeated Anthony Joshua in the amateur ranks. It’s pretty much academic that Fury will vacate the belt rather than take on Whyte and potentially get his lights punched out by the hard hitter.
This is the title that Fury won with a victory over Dereck Chisora last year. Fury hasn’t yet defended, and it’s looking like he never will at this point.
With Fury not likely to step up to the plate to face Whyte, it’s going to put pressure on Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn to put the 6’6” Joshua in with Whyte for the vacant British strap.
Joshua has already said that he wants to go after the British heavyweight title, but he obviously said that with the light hitting Fury in mind. But now that the hard hitting Whyte is the one that Joshua would have to face, it’s quite possible that Joshua and Hearn will change their plans in going after the British title.
You have to remember that Joshua was on the canvas in his loss to Whyte in the past, and I’m sure he wouldn’t like to experience that feeling a second time in a rematch with him. Whyte is completely out of the mold of fighters that Hearn has been feeing Joshua since he turned pro in 2013.
Joshua has been facing almost exclusively old guys with no punching power. The handful of younger fighters that Joshua has fought has been incredibly mediocre without the talent to do much other than fall down once hit. If Hearn puts Joshua in with a live body like Whyte, he could wreck Hearn and Joshua’s dream of winning a heavyweight world title.
Hearn has been smothering Joshua with compliments since he turned pro, and it’s to the point where Joshua seems to believe the things that Hearn has been saying about him. If Joshua faces the hard hitting Whyte, he could give him a hard dose of reality by knocking him out.
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