Whyte’s shortlist for April 18th: Povtkin, Ruiz Jr. and Wallin

By Boxing News - 01/08/2020 - Comments

By Scott Gilfoid: Dillian Whyte (27-1, 18 KOs) will be fighting next on April 18, and he’s willing to risk his guaranteed mandatory title shot against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. Whyte has high hopes to get a big name for his next fight, but it’s possible he could wind up fighting Otto Wallin next.

Depending on the location of the fight, Whyte vs. Wallin is a 50-50 affair. If Whyte can get away with the rough-house tactics we saw in his wins over Joseph Parker and Dereck Chisora, he can beat Wallin. However, if there’s a quality referee working on the night, Whyte may end up losing points if he starts roughing Wallin up like he did with Parker.

Whyte has these three heavyweights on his shortlist:

  • Alexander Povetkin
  • Andy Ruiz Jr.
  • Otto Wallin

Dillian’s promoter Eddie Hearn would like Ruiz Jr. (33-2, 22 KOs) to be his next opponent for April, but that has zero chance of happening. Ruiz made a bundle of money in his last fight against Anthony Joshua in December, and he’s not going to get back in the gym until he’s finished enjoying himself.

The lead option for Whyte’s April fight is 40-year-old former WBA heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (35-2-1, 24 KOs). That’s a risky fight for Whyte, because he’s looked poor in his last 2 fights against Mariusz Wach and Oscar Rivas. Some think that Whyte looked bad in those fights because he’s aging, but it’s more likely the case that he was never that good to begin with.

Whyte still complaining about Deontay Wilder

“Deontay Wilder is still being a coward and still running as usual,” said Whyte to Sky Sports Boxing. “I’ve been #1 challenger for 800 days, and I’m still the #1 challenger. I’ve fought more top 15 and top 10 opponents than he’s done as a champion. He’s got punching power, as you can see there, but Luis Ortiz is a million years old.”

Whyte sounds incredibly bitter at not getting the title shot against Wilder, doesn’t he? Wilder already told Whyte that all he needed to do was take on Luis Ortiz, and beat him and he would give him a title shot. So what did Whyte do? He opted to fight Parker and Chisora instead. As such, Wilder put him on ignore, and took on the guys that had earned their title shot.

Instead of Whyte bellyaching about not getting the Wilder fight, he needs to step up and start fighting some quality opposition for a change. How about Whyte fighting Filip Hrgovic? Is that too much to ask for him?

Dillian wants to fight 3 times in 2020

“I want to fight three times this year,” said Whyte. “This is going to be a good year, but unfortunately we’re not going to see an undisputed fight this year, which is a bit of a shame. At least we’ve got a Wilder-Fury rematch, and lets see how it goes. Let’s see what Joshua does next. I’m up for fighting all of them. My name has been mixed with all of them,” said Whyte.

Gilfoid thinks it would be a very bad idea for Whyte to fight 3 times in 2020, because the chances of him all those fights are slim. If Whyte loses, then he can forget about facing Wilder.

The boxing public wants to see Whyte fight these talents:

  • Oscar Rivas – REMATCH
  • Luis Ortiz
  • Andy Ruiz –
  • Daniel Dubois
  • Joe Joyce
  • Filip Hrgovic
  • Michael Hunter

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