By Charles Brun: Dillian Whyte is doing more talking about Tyson Fury than his upcoming fight in 11 days against Oscar Rivas on July 20. The ticket sales for the Whyte vs. Rivas fight are rumored to be poor for their match at the O2 Arena in London, England. It’s interesting that Whyte is talking about Fury more than he is his opponent Rivas. Is this is a desperation move on Whyte’s part to use Fury’s name in a name-dropping manner to help sell tickets for the Rivas fight? It sure looks like it.
Whyte vs. Rivas ticket sales rumored to be poor
If the rumors of a little over 2,000 tickets having been sold for the Whyte-Rivas fight are true, then Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn made a huge blunder in hand-picking Rivas (26-0, 18 KOs) rather than signing a better known opponent to face Whyte in Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz. Hearn wanted the #10 WBC ranked Rivas instead of the talented southpaw Ortiz, and it looks like the decision was a rotten one if the rumors of the poor ticket sales are true. When you see a match that has horrible ticket sale numbers, that’s a generally strong indication the fight won’t bring in good pay-per-view numbers. Whyte vs. Rivas will be shown on Sky Box Office in the UK.
Whyte wants winner of Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury rematch
The whole idea behind Whyte (25-1, 18 KOs) fighting fringe contender Rivas (26-0, 18 KOs) is for him to be made the mandatory challenger to WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. Whyte wants the World Boxing Council to order the winner of the Wilder vs. Fury rematch to face him straightaway in their next fight. Hearn is pressing the WBC to get them order the Wilder-Fury winner to fight Whyte immediately in their next fight. Eddie is asking the WBC to given an exact date for when they’ll have to face Whyte.
Thus far, the WBC hasn’t said a word, and Fury is already gloating about how he’s going to be tying Wilder up for two fights next year in 2020. If Fury is correct in what he says, Whyte won’t get a shot at the WBC belt until 2021, and who knows whether it would be Wilder or Fury that he would be facing at that time.
“Some days he may outbox you here and there, but I definitely laid him out before,” Whyte said to Sky Sports News. “I definitely put him on his bottom before. I don’t like talking about sparring, but seeing as he wants to come out and say, he’s put it on me in the gym and this, that, and whatever.”
Whyte should focus on Rivas, not Fury
Instead of Whyte babbling endlessly about Fury, he should be speaking about his troubled fight with Rivas. If Whyte can’t sell tickets, and his fights aren’t bringing in money on Sky Box Office, then he may find himself on the ignore list when it comes to the top heavyweights like Wilder, Andy Ruiz Jr., Fury and Anthony Joshua.