By Charles Brun: Dillian Whyte doubts that WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs) is the hardest puncher of all time. Whyte thinks Wilder has fought “tomato cans” during his career, and he believes that if he fought the same opposition, he’d have a 100% knockout percentage. In other words, Whyte (26-1, 18 KOs) rates himself as a better knockout artist than Wilder.
Whyte is fighting Mariusz Wach (35-5, 19 KOs) in a 10 round contest on December 7 on DAZN and Sky Sports Box Office at the Diriyah Arena, in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn added Whyte to the Anthony Joshua vs. Andy Ruiz Jr. 2 card this week, but they’re not the chief support. Whyte-Wach is too much of a mismatch for it to be the co-feature.
It appears that Whyte is more than a little angry and bitter that Wilder hasn’t given him a VOLUNTARY title shot. The World Boxing Council has had Whyte ranked #1 for two years, but Wilder hasn’t bothered to fight him.
Whyte would have been able to earn the mandatory spot last year if he’d agreed to fight Luis Ortiz when the sanctioning body ordered the two to fight in a final eliminator. Whyte chose instead to face Dereck Chisora. Afterwards, Whyte was surprised that the WBC didn’t make him the mandatory.
Whyte says he’d KO everyone that Wilder has fought
“You can see why people say that. He’s fought 41 tomato cans and knocked them all out. If I fought the same people he fought, I’d probably have a 100% KO ratio as well,” said Whyte to Sky Sports. Boxing.
Whyte’s KO rate is 70%, and he’s failed to knockout a lot of guys that Wilder would almost surely stop if he’s faced them. It would be more believable what Whyte says if he’d been able knockout all his own opposition.
These are the fighters that Whyte has FAILED to knockout during his career:
- Robert Helenius
- David Allen
- Dereck Chisora [first fight]
- Joseph Parker
- Hastings Rasani
- Anthony Joshua
- Remigijus Ziausys
- Tayar Mehmed
It’s safe to say that Wilder would knockout all of those guys, including Joshua, and it’s unlikely Whyte would KO the guys he’s fought.
Deontay sees something with Whyte that’s making him hesitant to face him
“I just believe there’s something in me that he’s seen, that I know, that’s a problem for him,” said Whyte in giving his view on why Deontay hasn’t fought him. “Whether it’s the body punches, or it’s tenacity, or it’s just the sheer aggression that I will bring.”
It sounds like Whyte is trying hard to anger Wilder enough for him to fight him, but that’s probably not going to happen. Wilder has a rematch scheduled against Tyson Fur on February 22, and if he wins that fight, he’ll face the Joshua vs. Ruiz winner.
Whyte isn’t in the picture for Wilder. The earliest Whyte can hope for to face Wilder is in 2021, and there’s a big if involved in that. Whyte’s B-sample will need to turn up negative, because if it’s positive, he’ll lose his mandatory status.
Whyte not scared of Wilder
“I’m not scared of him. I won’t be there laughing and doing all this ‘Bomb Squad’ stuff,” said Whyte. “He’s just a tall basketball player from Alabama who used to work at McDonald’s. He’s not this street kid and this bad boy, he’s none of that. That’s just fake,” said Whyte about Wilder.
Dillian won the interim WBC heavyweight title last July with a 12 round decision win over Oscar Rivas last July, but the WBC opted to delay his mandatory title shot due to his adverse finding during a drug test by UKAD. Once the drug testing agency clear Whyte, then the WBC will order Wilder to face him in 2021.
UKAD has been glacially slow in revealing the results of their B-sample from Whyte’s test. Hearn doesn’t matter though, because Whyte has been cleared to fight. Whether Hearn will be able to keep saying that if UKAD comes back with a positive test for Whyte’s B-sample is doubtful.