Arum tells Hearn “good luck” about Whyte situation

By Boxing News - 06/12/2019 - Comments

Image: Arum tells Hearn "good luck" about Whyte situation

By Tim Royner: Promoter Bob Arum isn’t worried about Dillian Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn talking about there being a serious legal issue if Tyson Fury and WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder face each other twice in 2020 without Whyte (25-1, 18 KOs) his mandatory title shot if he beats Oscar Rivas on July 20th.

Although the World Boxing Council hasn’t come out and said that the winner of the Whyte vs. Rivas fight will be the official mandatory for Wilder, Hearn believes that’ll be the case. He says that Whyte has been the #1 ranked contender in the WBC’s rankings for 580 days now, and he feels that he should have been made the mandatory already. The WBC wanted Whyte to take part in an eliminator last year against Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz, but he decided to go in another direction.

Arum: Whyte’s time is passed

Whyte’s time is passed, according to Arum. It’s unclear what he means by that, but it could be that he means Whyte missed out on earning the mandatory spot to fight Wilder by not facing Ortiz a year ago. Whyte is still fighting at a high level, so it’s doubtful that Arum thinks he’s a shot fighter. Whyte is a very beatable one though, as we saw in his recent fights against Dereck Chisora and Joseph Parker. Whyte could have lost to both guys if the officiating had been a little more on the ball. There was a blown knockdown call in the Whyte vs. Parker fight that favored Dillian. There was a lot of fouling that wasn’t called on Dillian.

“We have to meet after this fight with Fury, and outline what we can present. He’ll be very pleased with it, I believe,” said Arum to IFL TV. “Wilder will have another fight with [Luis] Ortiz, and Tyson Fury will have another fight this year, maybe in October. Good luck to Eddie [Hearn],” said Arum when told that Hearn said he’s considering legal steps if his fighter Dillian Whyte doesn’t get his world title shot for the WBC belt. “Not an issue at all. You have to understand there are two mandatory’s prior to the WBC mandatory. These people have gotten together, and I think Mauricio Sulaiman wants to keep the titles together, and have Wilder and Fury have the opportunity to be the undisputed champion. Dillian Whyte, his time is passed, really,” said Arum.

So not only does Arum think Whyte’s time has “passed” but he also is making it clear that the WBC mandatory isn’t going to be due for a while. If there’s two other mandatory’s that need to be taken care of before Wilder’s WBC mandatory, then Whyte could end up waiting until 2021. That’s if the WBC makes him the mandatory if he beats Rivas.

Hearn is saying that Whyte will be the mandatory to Wilder if he beats Rivas, but we haven’t heard the World Boxing Council speak on this. It doesn’t look good for Whyte though. He may have to keep busy in order to wait it out for his mandatory title shot. Again, we don’t know if the WBC is going to make Whyte the mandatory or not after his fight with Rivas. Hearn is talking, but the WBC hasn’t stated whether the winner of the Whyte-Rivas fight will be the mandatory for Wilder or not.

It seems like Whyte is putting all this energy into fighting Wilder, and not getting anywhere. The smarter move would be for Whyte to lean on Hearn to setup a fight between him and Joshua. That’s a rematch that should have taken place a long time ago. Joshua easily beat Whyte in 2015. Dillian has put together Whyte has won nine fights since then. He feels that should be the mandatory based on his wins over Joseph Parker, Lucas Browne, Robert Helenius and Dereck Chisora. Parker is easily the best fighter of that bunch, and Whyte’s win over him was controversial in some respects. It’s one of those fights that arguably needs a do-over in a neutral country. Whyte had it his way last time fighting in London. Those two need to fight in a neutral spot like the United State on the west coast, NOT the east coast.

Hearn speaks about Whyte vs. Rivas being an eliminator

“There’s going to be a serious legal issue with Dillian Whyte if that’s the case, because Dillian Whyte is fighting Oscar Rivas, and that’s for the interim [WBC] world title, and the mandatory position,” said Hearn to IFL TV about the news of a third fight between Wilder and Fury having been agreed on. “But we want it [the WBC mandatory position for Whyte] next, and there will be a serious situation.”

It would be disappointing to Hearn if Whyte winds up getting knocked out by Rivas. All that wasted effort in going after Wilder, when Dillian could have taken the Joshua fight. Whyte is obviously gambling that if he beats Wilder to capture the WBC heavyweight title, he’ll be able to use the belt as a chess piece to get a bigger split in a fight against Joshua. It would work if Whyte had the talent to beat Wilder, but it doesn’t seem like he’s good enough. Whyte’s recent matches against Chisora and Parker showed that he’s not on the same level as Wilder.

Whyte likely would have lost both of those fights with different referees. The blown call by the referee that worked the Whyte-Parker fight cost Parker the fight. The referee that was taking points away from Chisora during critical times in his recent with Whyte hurt his chances of winning. Wilder likely wouldn’t agree to fight Whyte in the UK. The fight would be in the States, and it’s hard to imagine Whyte surviving more than a round or two against Deontay. Whyte is too easy to hit, and he goes down when he’s hurt. Parker had Whyte on the canvas, and he’s not that big of a puncher.

Arum says Schwarz is more formidable than Ruiz

“Look at the organizational charts,” said Arum. “He’s #2 with the WBO, and #5 with some other organization,” said Arum about Schwarz. “Andy Ruiz, when he fought Joshua, he was barely #15 with one of the organizations. So you can’t write off a guy like Tom Schwarz, because you’ve never heard of him or he hasn’t fought in the UK. Believe me; he’s a competent fighter. He’s a good fighter, and I had my troubles with a German fighter when George Foreman fought Axel Schultz. In that fight a lot of people said Schultz won. So this is going to be a very, very good fight.”

“On paper at least, Tom Schwarz is a hell of a lot more formidable opponent than Andy Ruiz was,” said Arum.

Very few boxing fans would agree with Arum with his opinion that the tall, 6’5′ Schwarz is as “formidable” a fighter as Ruiz. The way that Schwarz appeared to flop on the canvas in his fight against Senad Gashi last year in April, he looks like one of the poorest of the contenders in the heavyweight division.

There’s no comparing Schwarz with Ruiz. Schwarz looks weak, hittable, and slow. Ruiz would likely do a number on Schwarz. The likely only way that Schwarz could beat a fighter like Ruiz is if he flopped on the canvas after an accidental head-butt. Schwarz beat Gashi by falling down after being head-butted by him. The referee then disqualified Gashi. A lot of boxing fans think Schwarz wasn’t hurt at all. They think he faked it.

Fury vs. Schwarz tickets almost sold out says Arum

Arum says the tickets are almost sold out for the Fury-Schwarz fight at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas. The venue seats 16,800 fans. Arum says there are only 1,100 tickets remaining, and he expects those to be scooped up by Friday. That’s surprising that Fury vs. Schwarz is going to sell out, because it’s a horrible fight. It would be interesting to know how many of the tickets, if any, were given away rather than purchased.

“Right now we have 1,100 tickets left [for the Fury vs. Schwarz fight],” said Arum. “If we had them the last day, we would sell them. So it’s going to be a sellout. We have to figure out a way to add some more seats to the arena. So we’re very, very pleased. A lot of the people think they’ll go to the box office and buy tickets, but I think by Friday there won’t be anything left. He’s so special, because he’s so outspoken, and people know about him. They know instantly that he’s telling them the truth. He’s not making crap up,” said Arum in talking about Fury.

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