By Scott Gilfoid: Eddie Hearn announced the Dillian Whyte vs. Dereck Chisora 2 rematch on Thursday for December 22 on Sky Box office PPV at the O2 Arena in London, England. There’s absolutely no surprise that Hearn announced the Whyte-Chisora 2 fight, because there was never any question that he wanted Chisora all along for Whyte. Hearn talked of having Luis Ortiz and Dominic Breazeale on standby for Whyte, but it’s clear that neither of those guys were seriously considered as backup options for Whyte. They’re both too talented to be backup options for a limited fighter like Whyte. The whole idea behind Hearn matching Whyte with Chisora is to make sure Dillian winds up facing Anthony Joshua on April 13. It’s highly unlikely that Chisora will get the decision against Whyte no matter how well he performs in my view.
Whyte is facing Chisora so that it can help validate him in the eyes of the boxing fans before Hearn sticks him in with Anthony Joshua on April 13. Hearn has to do something to make Whyte look more appealing to the fan, because they have zero interest in seeing him in with Joshua AGAIN. The fans want to see Joshua fight WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. Unfortunately, Hearn doesn’t want to make that fight. His flat fee offer of $15 million to Wilder is the clearest sign that he doesn’t want the fight. $15 million sounds like a lot to the average fan, but when you take in the possibility of the fight making $100 million, then you realize that Deontay is being offered an 85-15 split.
You can expect Whyte, Chisora and Hearn to go overboard with theatrics to try and build up this fight before the December 22 fight. We’ll likely see shoving, kiss attempts and possibly even wrestling before the two face each other again. The trash talking will be nonstop between Chisora and Whyte to try and interest the boxing public in seeing a fight that is no longer compelling.
Despite both fighters displaying a lot of theatrics during today’s news conference, the response from the British boxing fans was lukewarm. The problem is this isn’t a fight that the fans want to see. Heck, there’ a gillion better fights out there than the tired Whyte vs. Chisora retread fight that Hearn is forcing down the throats of the boxing public.
The fans wanted to see Whyte face Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz (29-1, 25 KOs) or Dominic Breazeale (19-1, 17 KOs). At the very least, the fans were somewhat interested in a fight between Whyte and Adam Kownacki. But throwing Chisora back in the ring with Whyte, it’s an idea that is tired. Whyte-Chisora 2 is basically seen as a money grab by putting on a fight that will attract less interest from boxing fans in the UK, but with the likely overall goal of ensuring that Whyte gets to the April 13 fight against Anthony Joshua in one piece without losing again.
“Both fighters are coming off the biggest wins in their careers, It’s the right time,” Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn said to Sky Sports News in talking up the Whyte vs. Chisora II rematch.
Who is Hearn trying to kid. Whyte-Chisora II is a nothing fight that has no bearing for the heavyweight division aside from making sure that Whyte moves forward to an in house Matchroom Sport fight against IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs) on April 13th at the giant 90,000 seat Wembley Stadium in London, England. If Hearn wanted to put on a real fight that had a bearing for the heavyweight division, he’d throw Whyte into the ring with Cuban talent Luis Ortiz and see what happens with that fight. Chisora is arguably a journeyman fighter at this point in his career, and a lousy choice for a fight against any of the top tier fighters. With that said, Whyte is almost on the same wavelengh as him. Whyte’s coming off of a gift 12 round decision win over Joseph Parker last July in a fight that he likely would have lost if a good referee was working the fight. Whyte was given credit for a 2nd round knockdown of Parker after he head-butted him at high speed. Yeah, it was an accidental head clash, but the referee blew it royally in giving Whyte credit for a knockdown. After that blown call, the referee failed to police the nonstop fouls from Whyte with him nailing Parker with rabbit shots, low blows, you name it. I lost track of the fouls by the 4th round. Parker looked like he was helpless inside the ring. Hearn says that both fighters are coming off the best wins of their careers. He’s only half right. Chisora is coming off the best win of his career in beating past his best Carlos Takam by an 8th round knockout on July 28 at the O2, but Whyte’s win over Parker was more of a hometown decision in the eyes of a lot of boxing fans.
“It’s an enthralling match-up, December 22 is going to be one of the biggest Christmas parties we’ve ever seen,” Hearn said in continuing to talk up the Chisora vs. Whyte 2 fight.
It would be easier to get excited in the Chisora-Whyte 2 rematch if Chisora wasn’t robbed in his first fight with Whyte in December 2016 in losing a controversial 12 round split decision. The fans saw the fight as a clear win for Chisora. So now the boxing public in the UK are being asked to pay to see the Chisora vs. Whyte 2 rematch after the judges failed to get it right the first time. It doesn’t make sense. If the judges mess up a fight by scoring it for the wrong fighter, like we saw in the Whyte vs. Chisora contest in 2016, then the promoters should make the rematch free of charge rather than charging the fans to see a retread fight that was messed up the first time. That’s how I see it at least. This should be a complimentary fight from the management to the boxing public to make up for the messed up results from the first Whyte-Chisora fight in 2016.
“Whyte deserves his credit, he wants to stake his claim for the Joshua fight,” Hearn said in sounding very disingenuous about his rationale for sticking Whyte in with Chisora yet again. “The public have been calling for this rematch for two years, it’s a massive risk.”
The public WAS calling for the Whyte vs. Chisora rematch for one year, but not two, as Hearn states. The fans stopped calling for the rematch between the two flabby heavyweights after Chisora lost to Agit Kabayel last year in November. At that point, the interest from the boxing public dropped off to next to nothing. At this point, Whyte-Chisora II is more of an old timer’s fight than a fight between relevant fighters. For all intents and purposes, this is a fight that Hearn has put together to try and validate his pick of sticking Whyte in with Joshua on the 13th of April next year instead of Deontay Wilder. If Hearn matched Whyte against a talented heavyweight like Luis Ortiz or Breazeale, he’d likely lose badly and then there would be no way that he could set up the Joshua-Whyte II rematch without inviting a storm of criticism in response from the boxing fans. The fans wanted to see Whyte face Ortiz, but for some reason, Hearn wasn’t having it. After seeing Whyte hit the deck, head-butt and foul like crazy in his last fight against Parker, one can see why Hearn wasn’t keen on the idea of sticking him in with Ortiz. It would likely end badly for Whyte with him getting beaten again.
“I don’t care about Joshua, that’s six months away,” Whyte said to skysports.com “December is the here and now. It’s easy to overlook things and I try not to do that. The first fight was my first proper 12-rounder, I’ve learnt now and am experienced,” Whyte said.
Whyte might even get the fight against Joshua even if he loses to Chisora. One can’t underestimate how badly Hearn wants to stick Whyte in with Joshua a second time. I don’t think it matters at this point what happens with the Whyte vs. Chisora 2 fight. Whyte is very likely going t be sharing the ring with Joshua on April 13 whether the boxing public likes it or not. Hearn has already made it clear, if Whyte loses to Chisora, he’s thinking of putting Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller in with AJ on that date rather than Chisora. I doubt that’ll happen. Miller isn’t well known in the UK, so it’s not a fight that sells. Besides, Joshua might lose to Miller, so he probably won’t get the fight. A slapper like Whyte is the perfect guy for Joshua to beat up again. He already knocked Whyte out in the 7th round in 2015 in their previous fight. The fight was only competitive for one of those seven rounds when Whyte hurt Joshua in the 2nd round. After that, Whyte gassed out and was beaten up until he was stopped in the 7th round. As badly as Whyte was dominated by Joshua, if they never fight again it would be too soon.