By Scott Gilfoid: Deontay Wilder says British heavyweight Dillian Whyte will eventually get a fight against him in time if he keeps winning, but it’s not going to help him. He’ll still suffer the same face as recent first round knockout victim Dominic Breazeale (21-2, 18 KOs), says WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (41-0-1, 40 KOs).
Whyte (25-1, 18 KOs), his promoter Eddie Hearn, and his many boxing fans have been complaining nonstop about how Wilder needs to fight him. However, Whyte has chosen to take a different path in earning a title shot against Wilder by choosing to ignore the World Boxing Council’s efforts at putting him in a title eliminator against Luis Ortiz. Instead of fighting Ortiz, Whyte chose to fight 40-year-old Lucas ‘Big Daddy’ Browne, journeyman Dereck Chisora and the recently beaten Joseph Parker in his three fights in 2018. As one would guess, the WBC did’t make Whyte the mandatory for Wilder.
“The Dillian Whyte fight is going to come. If he keeps winning, there ain’t going to be no way around it,” Wilder said to Thaboxingvoice. “When it does happen, he’s going to be like a Dominic Breazeale. Be careful what you ask for young man, you just might get it,” said Wilder.
Whyte, 31, is fighting on July 20 on Sky Box Office against unbeaten Oscar Rivas (26-0, 18 KOs) at the O2 Arena in London, England. Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing is still hoping that the WBC makes the winner of the Whyte vs. Rivas fight the mandatory. It’s kind of a hopeless sitation for Whyte, because it’s painfully obvious that the WBC isn’t going to be led around by the nose by Hearn by letting Dillian circumvent their eliminators to fight whoever he pleases to earn title shots. It would be that way in any job field. If you wanted to become an engineer, you’d be wasting your time getting a degree in sociology. Whyte should have taken the fight with Ortiz instead of ‘Big Daddy’ Brown, Chisora and Parker.
Michael Hunter calls out Dillian Whyte
Last Saturday night, heavyweight contender Michael Hunter (17-0, 12 KOs) called out Whyte following his second round knockout win over Fabio Maldonado (26-3, 25 KOs) on the undercard of Devin Haney vs. Antonio Moran at the MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland. Hunter said, “I want Dillian Whyte next.” However, after the fight, Eddie Hearn was quite on the subject of letting Hunter get a crack at Whyte when interviewed. Hearn spoke of wanting to put Hunter in with other fighters, but made no mention of matching him against Whyte. It’s too bad though, as Hunter vs. Whyte would be a reasonable one for the WBC to order for a title eliminator for a title shot against Wilder. Whyte vs. Rivas is bad choice. Rivas couldn’t even knockout Maldonado in going 10 rounds to beat him by a decision last December. The fact that Rivas couldn’t score a stoppage win over Maldonado lets you know why he was selected for Whyte to fight on July 20th. As such, it’s not surprising that the WBC hasn’t made the Whyte-Rivas fight an eliminator. If Rivas had some talent, and was capable of beating Whyte, then it would make sense for the WBC to make the fight an eliminator, but they’re not doing that. Hunter would be the ideal opponent for Whyte to fight in an eliminator, as long as the WBC agrees to the fight. It would be better for Hearn and Whyte to ask the WBC BEFORE they schedule a fight with Hunter if the sanctioning body would be willing to make the fight an eliminator rather than simply scheduling the fight, and assuming that the WBC will agree to make that an eliminator. That’s a crazy way of doing things. However, as good as Hunter looked last night, it’s likely Hearn will keep Whyte far away from him. Whyte is a good money maker on Sky Box Office right now. If Hearn makes the Whyte-Hunter fight, there’s a good chance Whyte loses that fight, and then the big money fights between him, Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder will implode on the spot. Not only that, the fans might not no longer be interested in paying to Whyte on Sky Box Office against guys like Lucas Browne, Dave Allen, Chisora and Rivas. It’s easy to see why Hearn is showing no interest in match Hunter against Whyte, because there’s too much for him to lose if he makes that fight.
Wilder says Joshua fight is possible in 2019
Wilder says he likely won’t be fighting Joshua in 2019, but you never know. Things could change suddenly and the two could face each other at the end of the year.
“Joshua’s not happening this year, that’s for sure,” Wilder said. “This is boxing, it changes like the weather. I may have to rephrase myself. We don’t know. Could be a dramatic change and, all of a sudden, you’ve got Joshua-Wilder at the end of the year.”
It would be huge news for the fans if Wilder and Joshua were to face each other at the end of the year. However, it’s not likely to happen without Joshua giving Wilder the 50-50 purse split that he’s been asking for to make the fight happen. As of now, Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs) will be defending against the heavy set Andy Ruiz Jr. (32-1, 21 KOs) on June 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York. That fight hasn’t attracted interest from the American boxing public the way that Hearn originally thought it would. Hearn failed to realize until too late that U.S fans don’t know who Ruiz is, and the ones that do know of him have largely been unimpressed with his performances against weak opposition. Ruiz’s record is padded with wins over guys like Alexander Dimitrenko, Kevin Johnson, Devin Vargas, Josh Gormley, Franklin Lawrence, Raphael Zumbano, Ray Austin and Siarhei Liakhovich. Those are all fighters that Ruiz Jr. has fought against in the last five years of his career since 2014. The one time that Ruiz Jr. stepped it up against Joseph Parker in 2016, he lost the fight by a 12 round majority decision in a failed bid to capture the vacant WBO heavyweight title.
Wilder heading towards Luis Ortiz rematch
The fight that Wilder is expected to take next is a mouth-watering rematch against Luis Ortiz in late summer. There’s a lot of interest from boxing fans in seeing Wilder and Ortiz face each other again. Their fight last year in March was an exciting affair with both guys getting hurt. With all the talk Ortiz (31-1, 26 KOs) has been doing about how he felt he would have won the fight if not for the delay in the start of the eighth round, Wilder will want to make it clear that he’s the better fighter.
