By Scott Gilfoid: Eddie Hearn says he would “love” to put together a fight between lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (27-0-1, 19 KOs) and #1 WBC Dillian Whyte (25-0, 18 KOs) in a final WBC eliminator to determine the mandatory for WBC heavyweight champion deontay Wilder , but he thinks Fury won’t agree to it.
Hearn is convinced in his mind that the World Boxing Council board of governors and the WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman will ultimately sanction the July 20th fight between Whyte and #10 WBC Oscar Rivas (26-0, 18 KOs) as a final eliminator, and then order the winner to face the Wilder vs. Dominic Breazeale winner without an intervening bout.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Hearn is probably correct about Fury, 30, not agreeing to fight Whyte in a WBC ordered eliminator. Why would Fury agree to face Whyte with a 50-50 purse split, when had the same deal to fight Wilder in a rematch, and he chose to pull out of the fight. Fury doesn’t need to fight in a WBC eliminator to get a crack at Wilder with 50% cut of the revenue.
”Dillian Whyte was ordered to fight Dominic Breazeale for the interim WBC title with the winner facing Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury immediately with no intervening bouts,” Hearn said to IFL TV. ”Tyson Fury pulled out of the ordered fight with Deontay Wilder, and we believe that Dillian Whyte should now be mandatory for the winner of or should be mandatory anyway. But after Breazeale and Wilder was made, Dillian Whyte should be the mandatory for the winner. So I think where the Tyson Fury thing came from was, they came back and said, we can order you against Tyson Fury in a final eliminator.’ We said he can’t because he’s not going to take the fight. It’s a 50-50 split. He just pulled out of the Deontay Wilder fight. He’s not going to take a Dillian Whyte fight. So we made the Oscar Rivas fight, and we said, ‘that’s a fight that should be a final eliminator for the [WBC] world title.’ It’s about the sixth guy in the top ten that Dillian Whyte has challenged from the top 15. He’s been #1 with the WBC for what, 400, 500 days? It’s something like 500 days. So it’s like what’s the hold up? So now we’ve put a new proposal together for the WBC, saying, ‘Now look, he’s defending his [WBC] Silver title, he’s obviously #1, this is another guy [Oscar Rivas] in the top 10 he’s fighting, please, can you make this one for the interim [WBC] world title and the mandatory position?’ So, we’re for an answer. We’re basically trying to find a resolution that keeps everybody happy. There’s a lot of momentum with people speaking out for Dillian online, and supporting him, saying, ‘This isn’t fair.’ This is a guy that has dedicated himself to the WBC. He’s turned down other eliminators with governing bodies. He’s actually turned down a fight with AJ, because he’s mandatory with the WBC. He’s been #1 for 500 days [with the World Boxing Council]. Give him his chance. It’s very frustrating. I have a lot of respect for Mauricio Sulaiman. This is a situation that has spun out of control. It’s time to act. It’s time to give Dillian Whyte a fair crack at the whip for everything he’s done in his career, and everything he’s done for and with the WBC. So I’m confident they’ll agree to make that fight [Whyte vs. Rivas] for the interim [WBC heavyweight] title, and hopefully Dillian Whyte becomes mandatory. When that happens, he’s fighting two months after Deontay Wilder. So maybe, Wilder can have another one. But he [Whyte] MUST be mandatory, you know, and if he beats Rivas, he DESERVES to be mandatory,” Hearn said in speaking in absolutes.
Why didn’t Whyte fight Luis Ortiz when the WBC ordered the fight?
Hearn is really complaining, isn’t he? There wouldn’t be a problem for Whyte if he simply went with the WBC’s request for him to fight Luis Ortiz in an eliminator? It sounds like Whyte figured he could fight whoever he wanted, and the WBC would just bend and give him the mandatory spot based on the guys that he wanted to fight. In other words, Whyte cherry-picked the guys that he wanted to fight instead of the fighter that the WBC WANTED him to face in Ortiz. Whyte and Hearn are now upset because they’re not getting their way.
Whyte’s entire problem with the WBC stems from his decision not to take part in the secondary eliminator the sanctioning body ordered him to take against Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz in 2018. You can argue that Whyte instead of taking the eliminator fight against Ortiz, he chose to cherry pick fights against the guys that that he wanted to face in high level journeyman Dereck Chisora [x 2], well past his Lucas ‘Big Daddy] Browne and Joseph Parker, who was coming off of a loss to Anthony Joshua. Whyte basically tried to become mandatory on his own without the WBC ordering him to face Chisora, Browne and Parker. The WBC made it clear that they wanted him to fight Luis Ortiz, but instead of doing that, Whyte chose to take his own route to the WBC mandatory spot by fighting 40-year-old Big Daddy Browne, journeyman Chisora and Parker.
Whyte is now fighting the short 6-foot tall Oscar Rivas without the WBC ordering that fight. It’s understandable why the WBC hasn’t made Whyte the mandatory. Whyte has been doing things solo, picking his own fights, and now he’s complaining that the WBC isn’t making him the mandatory because of the wins he’s put together? It’s amazing that a fighter would go his own route and expect a sanctioning body to give him the mandatory spot?
If one saw how awful Big Daddy Browne looked in his recent fights against domestic level heavyweight Dave Allen and journeyman Kamil Sokolowski, it’s understandable why the WBC isn’t viewing Whyte’s win over Browne as worthy for him to be made a mandatory to Wilder. Chisora is journeyman fighter with nine losses on his record, and recent defeats against Kubrat Pulev and Agit Kabayel.
Why would the WBC count Whyte’s empty wins over him as a good enough victory to make him a mandatory. The Whyte-Parker fight was arguably a robbery, as the referee blew a call in the second round, which resulted in Parker being ruled down after being head-butted by Whyte. Unbelievably, the referee gave Whyte credit for a knockdown. You take that head-butt away, then you have a draw. How do you count that as a win for Whyte? Moreover, Whyte was fouling Parker like mad in the fight and getting away with it. For all intents and purposes, Parker was mugged in that fight. Hearn likes to say that Tyson Fury beat Wilder, even though the fight was scored a 12 round draw. Well, if you second guess judges and referees, you can certainly do that with the Whyte vs. Parker fight in which the referee Ian John Lewis royally blew the call on the second round knockdown he gave Dillian creditor for, all the fouling that he failed to take points off for. It’s hard to see the Parker fight as being anything other than a loss for Whyte. You’ve got to feel sorry for Parker. He didn’t know what he was getting himself into when he signed to fight Whyte.
”Of course, they can order the [Fury vs. Whyte] fight, but it won’t happen,” Hearn said about the WBC’s idea of ordering Fury vs. Whyte for the final WBC eliminator match. ”He [Tyson Fury] just pulled out of the Wilder fight. He’s not going to take a 50-50 split against Dillian Whyte. But listen, if they want to reach out to us to make that fight [Fury vs. Whyte], great, but it’s not going to happen. We don’t want to waste anyone’s time. They [WBC] can order that, then there will be negotiations, and he [Fury] pulls out. It’s another three to four months or Dillian Whyte’s career. We have no problem facing Tyson Fury in a final eliminator, but he shouldn’t even be in the rankings. They just ordered him to fight for the WBC world title, and he pulled out. He’s got a load of money to fight someone easy [Tom Schwarz]. It’s not about legacy at this point in Tyson Fury’s career. It’s about the biggest deal for Tyson Fury. He’s won a world title in Germany. He’s beaten Deontay Wilder, really. So we believe he deserves his shots, Dillian Whyte. Does Dominic Breazeale deserve to be mandatory for Deontay Wilder? He got stopped by AJ. Since then, who has he beaten? No one. He beat Eric Molina, who also got stopped by AJ in two rounds, and then he beat Izuagbe Ugonoh and then he won and eight rounder [Boxing News 24 editor’s note: It was actually a 10 rounder against Carlos Negron, not an eight rounder]. So that’s what he’s [Breazeale] done to deserve a mandatory position [with the WBC]. Dillian Whyte has beaten [Dereck] Chisora, [Robert] Helenius, Lucas Browne, Joseph Parker, Chisora again, and now he’s fighting Oscar Rivas. Come on, this isn’t about Mauricio Sulaiman. I actually believe he’s going to act fairly here. When the fans post on social media, I read the comments. ‘Well, why don’t you do what’s right for Dillian Whyte?’ They’re [the WBC] is under pressure as well, and we all have to keep that pressure on them, because we have to get what’s right for Dillian Whyte. This is not about favor. This is not about manipulating the governing body. Let’s just say, let’s just look at the facts, and let’s make this right, and what’s making this right is if he beats Oscar Rivas, he deserves to be mandatory. Come on, he’s been #1 for 500 days. He’s beaten everybody. He’s defended your [WBC] Silver title four times. He’s beaten two official eliminators for world titles. So hopefully, Mauricio and the board of governors will do what’s right, and I believe they will for the good of boxing,” Hearn said.