By Charles Brun: Dillian Whyte has taken legal action with the WBC over the date for his mandated title shot. Whyte (27-1, 18 KOs) is the WBC mandatory, and he’s supposed to be fighting for the title by the end of February 2021.
Whyte earned the WBC mandatory position last July in defeating Oscar Rivas in a title eliminator. Dillian has been waiting ever since for his mandated title shot for the WBC strap.
Initially, Whyte was mandatory for Deontay Wilder, but after his loss to Tyson Fury last February, he’s now waiting for his title shot against him.
Whyte’s legal action still might not help his situation in terms of him getting a title fight against WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, who said last week that he wouldn’t be dedicated to by the sanctioning bodies.
WBC president Sulaiman talks mandatory status
“There is a procedure with regards to the date of the mandatory in the heavyweight division,” said WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman to skysports.com. “Upon direct advice of WBC legal counsel, I am not in position to discuss any further.”
Fury says that he’ll only fight Whyte after he battles the big names, Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua. The Joshua fight is a two-fight deal for Fury, which means Whyte could be waiting until 2022 for his title shot.
Fury’s promoter says he wants to talk to the World Boxing Council about postponing or eliminating the mandatory situations. The last option would be for the WBC to elevate Fury to Franchise champion, which removes any possibility of Whyte forcing a title shot against him.
Franchise champions aren’t obligated to defend against mandatory defenses. In a game of chess, a King can move in any direction on the board. If Fury is made WBC Franchise champion, he would be the equivalent of a King and could fight anyone without dealing with annoying mandatory challengers.
Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing wants the winner of this year’s trilogy match between WBC champion Fury and Deontay Wilder to face Dillian in February of 2021. The winner of that fight would then meet up with IBF/WBA/WBO champion Anthony Joshua in the summer of 2021.
Hearn wants Whyte to fight for WBC belt
It’s a win-win situation for Hearn and his Matchroom promotional company because they would be getting three big-money fights involving their fighters next year. Fury doesn’t want to go along with Hearn’s vision, though. He’s saying he WON’T fight Whyte until after his two matches with Joshua next year, and that makes sense.
Asking Fury to fight three times in 2021 would be a hardship. If the shoe were on the other foot, Hearn probably wouldn’t like the idea of Joshua having to fight three times in 2021 either, especially if one of the matches came BEFORE his two significant unification bouts with Fury.
It works for Hearn to have Fury fight, Whyte, in early next year because it not only brings more money to Matchroom, but it will potentially wear the ‘Gypsy King’ down a little before he faces Joshua in the summer.
It’s asking a lot of Fury to have to fight three times in 2021, which is a move that plays into Hearn’s hands. The more worn out Fury is after his mandated title fight against Whyte, the better it is for Joshua and Hearn.
Matchroom doesn’t have another big-money guy that brings in the loot like Joshua, so it wouldn’t be good for Fury to beat him TWICE in 2021. You can argue that if Joshua suffers two consecutive losses to Fury next year, his career would be pretty much over.
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