By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport heavyweight stable fighter Dillian ‘The Body Snatcher’ Whyte (24-1, 17 KOs) says he’s willing to fight former heavyweight world title challenger Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz (29-1, 25 KOs) on December 22 rather than fighting Dereck Chisora, the guy that he’s been mentioned as being interested in fighting on that date.
Michael Benson is reporting that Whyte wants to fight the talented Cuban Ortiz in two months from now. However, talk is cheap. It doesn’t matter what Whyte says. It’s what he does is important. What we do know is Whyte shown no interest whatsoever in fighting the former Cuban amateur star Ortiz, who may be the second best heavyweight in the division behind WBC champion Deontay Wilder.
It’s easy for Whyte to talk about wanting to fight the southpaw Ortiz on December 22 on Sky Box Office PPV, but the reality is something different. Whyte will have all the excuses he needs not to make that fight unfortunately. Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn will want no part of letting him fight a talent like Luis Ortiz, because he’s the likely opponent for fellow Matchroom stable fighter Anthony Joshua on April 13. Hearn wants to make Joshua vs. Whyte2 in the worst way for April 13 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Hearn was saying just yesterday how the World Boxing Organization might make Whyte the mandatory for Joshua’s WBO strap, and how he would then match the two together on April 13. In other words, this would be a Matchroom Sport in house fight between Whyte and Joshua. Hearn would have his fingers only on the gear shift of the promotion for the Joshua-Whyte fight.
Even though the British boxing fans have scant interest in seeing a tired old retread fight between Joshua and Whyte, Hearn is going to shove it down their throats on April 13. Of course, if Whyte could be counted on to beat Ortiz, Hearn would make that fight in a heartbeat for December 22 so that his fighter could be seen beating the second best heavyweight on the planet in ‘King Kong.’ Unfortunately, Whyte would likely be bounced around the ring by the southpaw Ortiz and made to look like a human basketball with him going down and getting up over and over. Ortiz is simply in another class than Whyte talent-wise in this writer’s view. It’s not even close. Hearn isn’t going to want to make the Whyte-Ortiz fight because he could lose his number one option for Joshua’s April 13 opponent when Whyte gets knocked out by Ortiz. That doesn’t mean that Hearn would turn around and make the Deontay Wilder vs. Joshua fight, because I don’t think he wants that fight. What we’ll likely see is Hearn plugging in one of his other Matchroom stable heavyweights in Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller as the opponent Joshua fights on April 13. It’s a terrible fight, but it’ an in house one for Hearn and it’s a safe one for Joshua. There’s no risk of Joshua losing to a big, slow and fat heavyweight like the 300 pound Miller.
Ortiz lost to Wilder last March by a 10th round knockout in what is the best heavyweight fight this year. Whyte, 30, has had the chance to fight Ortiz in a World Boxing Council title eliminator to earn a fight against Wilder, but he’s chosen to go the soft route in facing the likes of Robert Helenius, Ivica Bacurin, David Allen, Lucas ‘Big Daddy’ Browne and Joseph Parker. Whyte beat Parker, but the fight arguably should have been ruled as a no contest due to the referee being missing in action in that fight. The referee blew a call in round 2 in giving Whyte credit for a knockdown that was a result of a head-butt on his part. The referee also did a poor job of policing the fouling that Whyte as doing all night long with his head-butting, elbows, rabbit punches and shoving. You had to feel sorry for Parker on the night, as he was royally mugged in broad daylight right in front of the referee and a large crowd of pro-Whyte boxing fans.
Whyte would be showing a lot of courage in fighting Ortiz, but I get the impression that he’s short on that. Past events show that Whyte hasn’t been willing to take on the best, because if he did, he would have fought Ortiz ages ago. I’m just saying.