By Grant Darling: With the announcement just made that Anthony Joshua has signed a two-fight deal with Tyson Fury to be crowned the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, which will take place in 2021 after the finale of the trilogy with Deontay Wilder, what does this mean for WBC no-1 contender Dillian Whyte?
The Body Snatcher has been waiting for almost two years as the mandatory challenger for his shot at the WBC belt, and every time it feels like it’s about to happen, something else stops it in its tracks. Dillian Whyte is the interim world champion and Mauricio Sulaiman, The WBC President, stated that he would receive his world title shot by March 2021 or the current champion of the time would be stripped, with Dillian facing the no2 ranked contender for the belt, but with the news just announced, it’s hard to see that happening.
Dillian Whyte is promoted by Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing who also promotes Anthony Joshua, the man that is the biggest star in their stable, and ever since Fury knocked out Wilder in incredible fashion, Eddie has been trying to make the fight to have ’one face-one name of heavyweight boxing; an undisputed champion.’
There is very little chance, having signed a two-fight agreement, that he will want the WBC to strip Fury of the belt for Whyte to fight for it so it looks like DIllian Whyte won’t be getting a world title shot for at least another 18 months from now. Other sanctioning bodies like the IBF, WBO, and WBA will likely let Eddie Hearn pay their mandatory challengers a ‘step aside fee’ to let these two mega-fights happen, especially with the mandatory’s all being of Eastern European descent with little fame or following other than that of boxing purists. But with Dillian, he is in a different position to these guys.
Whyte is 32-years-old, has faced everyone there is to face and has nothing left to prove other than to win the world title. Credit where credit is due, he has taken the fights that many others didn’t want to, including the likes of Oscar Rivas, a man who is deemed to be a very dangerous opponent with tremendous knockout power and Joseph Parker, the former world champion who’s only prior loss came at the hands of Anthony Joshua.
The other nod to Dillian is that he is never in a dull fight, and will always go for the knockout even when he is winning on points. His slugger style means he can hurt you, but leaves himself open to be hit, making it exciting for the entirety of the fight. I do believe he has a chance, albeit an outside one, of beating either guy on the night.
So what next for Whyte? He will face Povetkin after the pandemic as was originally planned in May for what could be the world title if they make Tyson Fury the Franchise Champion, but everyone knows he wouldn’t be considered the champ without winning against the current holder and after that?
I think we could end up seeing Whyte v Wilder in 2021. He has been chasing him for a long time, and with the reality of him not fighting for a belt anytime soon, that is going to give him the biggest payday. The only other opponent would be Daniel Dubois, who is on the rise, but that would potentially be a dangerous fight that would only hinder his chances of a world title shot should he lose.
In an ideal world, Dillian stays unbeaten until the two fight agreement has finished between Fury and AJ, and he gets to face whoever the victor is for a well deserved big payday and fight. But I can honestly see him digging his heels in, and rightly so, to get his chance of a world title, meaning AJ and Fury’s second clash could be without the green and gold belt on the line after having to relinquish it.
Although it wouldn’t surprise me if we see Eddie Hearn offering a substantial ‘step aside fee’ for this not happen, if he didn’t take the fee though, that would then mean Dillian gets to fight for his mandatory shot against their number 2 ranked fighter. The winner of that would get a chance of becoming the undisputed champion against the winner of AJ-Fury II.
Ultimately, I think AJ-Fury is great for the sport, and because of their popularity it will definitely bring a lot of eyes to boxing that wouldn’t normally, but I can’t help but feel that Dillian is being hard done by and I hate to say it, but he could go on to be one of the best British heavyweights to not win a world title, solely down to boxing politics.