By Scott Gilfoid: Moments after his 11th round knockout victory over Dereck Chisora, Dillian Whyte demanded that Anthony Joshua fight him next on April 13 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Whyte (25-1, 18 KOs) wasn’t interested in hearing Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs) explain to him that WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder (40-0-1, 39 KOs) is the guy that he wants for the April 13 date.
Whyte was sounding very spoiled with the way he was demanding Joshua fight him. It’s good that Whyte didn’t throw a temper tantrum and start stomping his feet and holding his breath. It would have been a bad look for him.
Whyte continued to press Joshua to fight him next despite it being a retread fight that only small percentage of the world wants to see. The fight fans outside of the UK want to see is Wilder vs. Joshua. The fans don’t care about seeing Whyte and Joshua fight again, as it’s a redundant fight and more in house Matchroom type bout rather than one that fans want to see.
“Rematch! Let’s go! Let’s go,” Whyte screamed at Joshua when he was inside the ring.
Joshua then responded to Whyte via Sky Box Office: “It was a good fight back then but we need to see where we’re at, now, but we know how the list goes. No 1 or No 2 – if they’re not available then if anyone deserves a shot, it is Dillian.”
Whyte wasn’t pleased to see Joshua not immediately agreeing to fight him next, even though it was never agreed upon that the Joshua-Whyte 2 fight was definitely going to happen if Dillian beat Chisora in their rematch. It was thought by many boxing fans that Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn had already penciled in Whyte as AJ’s opponent for April 13, but apparently it’s not academic that the fight will be made between them on that date.
Joshua is still holding out hope that Hearn can make the unification fight with Wilder. the Wilder-Joshua fight is one that can definitely be made if Joshua inserts himself into the negotiations by telling Hearn to give Wilder the percentage deal that he’s asking for to make the fight happen. If that doesn’t happen, it may prove to be impossible for the Wilder-Joshua fight to get made.
Joshua wants the Wilder fight, and he needs that match to ensure that he sells out the 90,000 seat Wembley Stadium on April 13. Joshua vs. Whyte 2 might not be a big enough fight to bring in enough boxing fans to fill Wembley Stadium. That’s why it’s not a good idea for Hearn to be booking huge stadiums like Wembley if he’s not dead certain that he can get Wilder to agree to the fight with Joshua.
If Hearn is going to book monstrously big stadiums like Wembley and assume that Wilder will agree to the flat fee offers that he’s giving him, then he’s showing naivety.Wilder isn’t going to fall in lock step to whatever Hearn wants him to agree to for him to get the fight with Joshua.
Wilder is still in a position where he doesn’t need the Joshua fight right now, as the rematch between him and Tyson Fury is already being talked about for March or April of 2019. There’s plenty of green for Wilder to make fighting Fury a second and perhaps even a third time depending on how successful the rematch is next year.
Whyte, 30, is in a good position to get the Joshua fight on April 13, given the likelihood of a Wilder vs. Fury 2 rematch in early 2019. Those two need to settle the controversy over their 12 round split draw from December 1. It’s not something they can ignore. Of course, Joshua and Hearn can still lure Wilder away from making the Fury right right now if they give him the fair deal that he’s asking for in wanting a 50-50 split of the revenue. However, Hearn and Joshua still appear to be resistant to that idea, which means they need to start negotiating the rematch with Whyte. Perhaps they can get Whyte to agree to the flat fee that they were offering Wilder. The flat fees aren’t going to work with Wilder unless Hearn and Joshua throw a crazy number at him like $50 million.
“I won’t wait for you,” Whyte shouted at Joshua while he stood there looking at him at point blank range. “I need to know what I’m doing. I’ve got my own career. I’m not waiting. We’re either fighting or we’re not.”
Given that Whyte is the B-side, he’s not in the position to be giving Joshua any ultimatums right now. If Whyte wants to go away and sign for another fight while he waits for the smoke to clear from the Wilder vs. Joshua fight, then that’s obviously up to him. It’s unclear who Hearn would match Whyte against if he’s not putting him in with Joshua. There won’t be much interest if Whyte fights fellow Matchroom Boxing stable mate Dave Allen, and the fans aren’t going to be excited at seeing a third Whyte vs. Chisora fight right. Hearn isn’t going to put Whyte in with Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller, because he’s saving him to put him in with Joshua.
If Whyte carries out his threat to wait for Joshua, then we’re probably looking at Dillian fighting someone like Michael Hunter or Sergey Kuzmin. Those are two guys that Hearn would likely be able to get to face Whyte. Joe Joyce wants to fight Whyte, but it doesn’t look he wants to fight him. The 6’6″ Joyce would be all wrong for Whyte. Hearn promoted Oleksander Usyk, but he would likely beat Whyte with ease. The way that Whyte fought tonight, he would have had major issues dealing with a guy like Usyk. It’s still unclear whether Usyk wants to take a tough fight for his first fight at heavyweight, so that’s a positive for Whyte. He doesn’t need to worry about Hearn matching him against Usyk.
Hearn is now saying that Wilder has to fight Joshua or Whyte. Hearn believes that Wilder is boxed in and must fight one of those two. Hearn believes that Whyte’s #1 ranking with the World Boxing Council means that Wilder will have to fight him. However, the WBC already has Dominic Breazeale as the mandatory challenger for Wilder, and they haven’t ordered that fight. When they do order it, Wilder will take it, but until then, he can face whoever he pleases. But first, Wilder is heading for a rematch against Tyson Fury. If Wilder wins that fight, then the WBC is expected to order him to face Breazeale. If Wilder wins that too, then he has an entire year before he needs to defend against his new mandatory challenger. Hearn seems to believe that Whyte will be Wilder’s next mandatory, even though Dillian hasn’t fought in a WBC eliminator to satisfy that requirement. Tonight’s Whyte vs. Chisora II rematch wasn’t a WBC eliminator. It was just a business fight between two of Hearn’s Matchroom stable fighters.
“If Wilder doesn’t want to fight Joshua, then it has to be Whyte,” Hearn said to Sky Sports in sounding ignorant of the process. “Whyte is No 1 with the WBC, will be mandatory with the WBO, and Joshua wants to fight him.”
It won’t be Wilder that Whyte fights, that’s for sure. If Whyte is going to fight ayone next, it’s going to be someone like the aforementioned Michael Hunter, who Hearn recently inked to his stable. That’s a bad fight potentially for Whyte. Hunter is a 2012 U.S Olympian with a high work rate. He would be catching Whyte at a bad time in his career after two grueling fights back to back against Chisora and Parker.
