By Tim Royner: Eddie Hearn says heavyweight Dillian Whyte will be back inside the ring in December against an opponent still to be determined in speaking to IFL TV. Whyte, 30, wants to get one more fight under his belt before he potentially faces IBF/WBA/WBO champion Anthony Joshua in a rematch on April 13 at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
Whyte almost lost his last fight in struggling to get past Joseph Parker. Depending on how you look at that fight, Whyte either looks great in beating Parker or horrible in coming close to getting knocked out in the 12th and being given credit for a bogus knockdown in the 2nd.
Whyte has no shortage of potential opponents interested in facing him. Former heavyweight title challengers Dominic Breazeale and Dereck Chisora have both volunteered to face Whyte. However, Whyte reportedly isn’t interested in facing the 34-year-old Chisora (29-8, 21 KOs) for some reason. Whyte vs. Chisora would be a great fight for the boxing public.
For Whyte to decline the rematch with Chisora, it’s a self-defeating move on his part unless Hearn can find him a better opponent for December. For the UK consumption, Whyte can’t do much better than Chisora. The two fought each other in 2016 in a highly competitive fight in which Whyte won by a controversial decision. Chisora has turned his career around recently with a big 8th round knockout win win over former world title challenger Carlos Takam on July 28.
Breazeale (19-1, 17 KOs) has offered to fight Whyte. That would be an excellent match-up for December or April. Breazeale is willing to put his WBC mandatory spot on the line in order to fight Whyte. It’s a crazy thing for Breazeale to do, but it shows how confident the 6’7” American is in himself. That confidence may scare Whyte away and make him apprehensive about taking the fight with Breazeale. The guys that Whyte has been facing lately are fighters coming off of losses or guys that are considered over-the-hill like Robert Helenious, Lucas Browne, Malcolm Tann and Joseph Parker.
It’s still not a sure thing that Whyte (24-1, 17 KOs) faces Joshua in April. Hearn wants WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder to face Joshua on that date, but it’s still unclear whether the money will be there to get him to accept the fight. The two seem to be far apart in what they want. That’s good news for Whyte, because he can get the fight against Joshua if Wilder doesn’t agree to the flat fee deal.