By Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn says Dillian Whyte’s WBC resolution will involve his fight against Oscar Rivas being for the interim WBC world title this Saturday, and the winner being given a guaranteed shot against the Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury 2 rematch victor. The winner of that fight MUST face the winner of this Saturday night’s Whyte vs. Rivas victor by May 18 of next year, says Hearn.
What Hearn isn’t saying is the winner of the Wilder-Fury rematch will only have three months before they have to defend against the Whyte-Rivas winner by May 18. The Wilder vs. Fury rematch is slated for February 22. There’s not going to be much time for the winner of that fight to recover, and then start training to defend against Whyte or Rivas. That’s unreasonable to assume that the Wilder-Fury winner will get back in the ring to face Whyte or Rivas.
Wilder vs. Fury 2 winner will likely face Ruiz-Joshua rematch winner
The obvious thing that Hearn isn’t pointing out is the winner of the Wilder vs. Fury rematch will schedule a unification match against the winner of the Anthony Joshua vs. Andy Ruiz Jr. 2 rematch. That’s a given. There’s a lot of money at stake in a fight for the unified heavyweight championship in 2020.
The Wilder-Fury winner won’t pass that money up in order to take lesser fight against Rivas or Whyte. There’s no money in a fight involving Whyte or Rivas for the Wilder vs. Fury winner. Rivas almost lost to Bryant Jennings in his last fight, and he’s just some guy that Hearn picked out to put in with Whyte. Rivas is not considered an elite level fighter, and neither is Whyte.
“There will be an announcement next week with the WBC,” said Hearn to Matchroom Boxing in talking about Whyte’s WBC resolution. “Basically, this fight [Whyte vs. Rivas] is going to be for the interim [WBC] world championship. The winner will be the mandatory challenger for the WBC, and will effectively be in line to fight for the title before May the 18th [of 2020]. So basically, the winner of this fight [Whyte-Rivas] will go on and fight the winner of Wilder and Fury, which looks like will take place early next year,” said Hearn.
Hearn expects Rivas to be tough opponent for Whyte
Eddie views Rivas (26-0, 18 KOs) as a tough obstacle in front of Whyte (25-1, 18 KOs) for their fight this Saturday night on DAZN and Sky Box Office at the O2 Arena London, England. Hearn talks about Rivas as having an aggressive pressure style of fighting that is going to make him a problem for Whyte to deal with.
“Obviously, you saw Joshua vs. Ruiz recently. Rivas has nothing to lose,” said Hearn in talking about Oscar Rivas’ fight for next Saturday, July 20 against Dillian Whyte at the O2 Arena. “Strong as a bull, game as a bagel. He just doesn’t stop coming forward throwing punches. This is a really tough fight for Dillian Whyte. Dillian does have the size advantage. Rivas does have the experience as a professional, and he was a very good amateur as well. He holds a win over [Andy] Ruiz in the amateurs,” said Hearn.
The fact that Hearn hand-picked Rivas as Whyte’s opponent suggests that he’s beatable for Dillian. Hearn gave Whyte the green light to face Rivas, which means he thinks he’s got the talent to beat him. The guy that Hearn isn’t sure about, Luis Ortiz, he didn’t let Whyte fight him, even though the WBC ordered them to fight.
“You seen him against Bryant Jennings. Just absolutely relentless,” said Hearn about Rivas. “He stopped Jennings in the 12th round. He does not stop throwing punches. The [Whyte vs. Rivas] fight can only be a cracker. Dillian Whyte is going to have to hold his ground. He’s going to have to try and use that big left hook as well, and use his boxing skills. [Whyte’s trainer] will have a good game plan in place. This is a world class heavyweight fight, and a massive banana skin for Dillian Whyte,” said Hearn.
Whyte could be interim WBC champion for awhile
It would be in Whyte’s best interest to get used to being the interim WBC heavyweight champion after Saturday. He’s not likely going to get anywhere near the winner of the Wilder-Fury 2 winner to challenge for the title. The winner of that fight is either going to do a trilogy, which would be given the green light by the WBC , or they’ll fight the Joshua-Ruiz winner. Either way, Whyte is going to need to wait around a little longer. If Whyte is patient, he’ll fight for a world title
Wilder (41-0-1, 40 KOs) is coming off of a mandatory defense against Dominic Breazeale last May. Asking Wilder to come back a year later to defend against another mandatory is asking a lot of him. It would be getting in the way of big money fights involving Wilder and Fury, Ruiz and Joshua. There’s nothing wrong with Whyte and Rivas, but those aren’t big money fights for Wilder.
The WBC will understand that, and they won’t get in the way of Wilder putting Whyte or Rivas at the back of the line while they take care of the serious fights that the boxing public wants to see. You hate to say it, but there’s no interest from fans in seeing Wilder use up a title defense fighting Whyte or Rivas. Those guys haven’t even beaten anyone. Whyte chose not to fight in the WBC title eliminator last year, and Rivas’ only notable win is against Jennings.