By Charles Brun: Dereck Chisora believes that Dillian Whyte is being punished for choosing not to fight Anthony Joshua in 2019. Dereck says that when he fought Whyte in December 2018, there was an agreement that the winner would face IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion, Joshua.
Matchroom booked Wembley Stadium in London, England, for the sole purpose of staging Joshua vs. Whyte fight, according to Chisora. But then Whyte, decided he didn’t like the deal, and he instead fought Oscar Rivas in a WBC title eliminator.
Chisora feels that they pushed Whyte to the background because he didn’t hold up his side of the deal by taking on Joshua last year. What Chisora fails to realize is Whyte became unimportant after Joshua lost in June of 2019.
Joshua’s loss to Andy Ruiz Jr made it necessary for him to fight him twice. If not for that, Whyte probably would have gotten a shot at AJ. Whyte had wasted time going the WBC route, and waiting too long before he finally agreed to fight in their eliminator.
Whyte was supposed to fight Joshua in 2019
“It’s going to be a good fight because Povetkin wants to, and Dillian wants it,” said Chisora to IFL TV. “You have Dillian, and you had me, and the whole idea was the winner of Dillian, and I fights AJ in Wembley, but then when Dillian won, he didn’t want the deal.
“He decided to fight somebody else. They had to scrap the whole production. They put so much money into the production in hiring Wembley and getting everything done. Then it all got scrapped.
“Now they have to reset now. Where are we going to get our venue? They went to New York. AJ went to New York. Who is he going to fight? The other guy failed the drug test [Jarrell Miller].
“Who is he going to fight? They found a Mexican [Andy Ruiz Jr]. The Mexican came, and everything is all messed up. This all has to do with Dillian. Let’s remember that here. And then AJ lost. Guess who the blame is on now? The blame is on Dillian.
“If Dillian had taken that fight, the fight would have happened in London. So Sky’s upset, DAZN is upset, AJ is upset, and Eddie Hearn is upset. They’re all upset with Dillian. The WBC, IBF, they’re all upset with this guy because he didn’t play ball by fighting AJ in Wembley. ‘We’re going to sort that guy out.
“Oh yeah, done. Guess what? The rematch with Ruiz happened in Saudi,” said Chisora. “But now nobody is upset with Dillian is because there’s so much money in there now,” said Dereck.
That’s a shame that Whyte didn’t take that fight with Joshua last year, but that’s not the reason why he’s not gotten an opportunity since.
Chisora: Dillian won’t get title shot
“They forgot about Dillian in the background now. They don’t care anymore. Guess where Dillian is right now? That fight with Tyson Fury and with Deontay Wilder, but Dillian is still in the background.
“He’s still fighting everybody in the back, but he’s still not getting his shot at the title because he didn’t play ball. He didn’t take the fight when he was supposed to take the match, which was the agreement that we had when this fight was happening with him and me.
“The agreement was, the winner fights AJ. That was the agreement. When we got to the table, Dillian said, ‘That’s a bad deal. I don’t want it, so I’m not going to fight AJ. So they’re like, ‘We’re duped. What are we going to do?’ So I think they’re punishing him. There was an agreement.
“They had a 16-weeks camp. You have to look at the rest. AJ sells out Wembley. Dillian sometimes doesn’t even sell out the O2. That’s why he chose to fight behind closed doors because it’s sometimes difficult to sell out the O2.
“So why would you want a better deal than the man that sells out the venue and who does big numbers of pay-per-view? Why would you want a better deal? It doesn’t work like that. You’ve got to go there and prove yourself. I can do this and do this when I get to the top and hold your spot.
“AJ holds the record on pay-per-view. So why would you want a better deal than the guy that’s holding all the belts, who sells out, and is a bigger name than you? It’s not going to happen,” continued Chisora.
It’s not that Matchroom, Sky, or the sanctioning bodies are intentionally ignoring Whyte to get even with him.
Dillian will get title shot when everyone is retired
“Tyson Fury knows he’s fighting Deontay Wilder next,” Dereck said. “He don’t really care [about Dillian]. And after that, guess who he’s battling? AJ. And the AJ will finally get a shot at a title when everyone is retired, AJ is retired, Tyson Fury is retired, myself retired, and Deontay Wilder retired.
“Then he can fight for the world title. But before those guys are retired, he’s not going to fight for anything.
“A lot can happen, but let’s be honest, people want to see that fight,” said Chisora about Joshua vs. Fury. “They want to see that fight more than they want to see Dillian Whyte fight anybody. I expect no hiccups. The guys are coming in there strong-minded, ready to fight, ready to rock and roll.
‘Deontay Wilder is going to come back like a wounded animal, and with the whole thing happening in America, he’s got a point to prove. He’s got to come back and do what he needs to do.
“All that shouting he’s been doing for the last 400 years means nothing, so he’s got to come back strong. I know he’s the Gypsy King, but he’s got to come back strong.
It’s going to be a good fight, and then you’ve got Pulev and AJ. Pulev, this is his last chance. After this, he’s going to retire. He’s coming all out, so AJ has to perform,” said Dereck.
Whyte will get his title shot in 2021, and likely by the first half of the year. World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman has already promised Whyte a fight against the WBC champ by February. Moreover, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn wants Whyte to fight for the title as well.
Chisora picking Joshua to defeat Tyson Fury
“I’ll go with AJ,” said Chisora in picking Joshua over Fury. “AJ has got more power. AJ has got power, and he uses his jab better than Deontay Wilder, and his one-two is better than Deontay Wilder.
“You’ve got the Gypsy King, and he flicks and then boom-boom-boom, and then he bamboozles you. But whoever has got power at the time will win the fight, and that’s AJ.
“But if Deontay Wilder comes and tries to box, he’s going to lose the fight. He has got come in there and go for it, swinging,” said Dereck.
Chisora is one of the few people in the sport that are picking Joshua to beat Fury, but he could be right. Joshua has the bigger punch, superior hand speed, and the far better jab. Also, Joshua is a much better inside fighter than Fury and Deontay Wilder.
The season Fury dominated Wilder is because he was beating him up on the inside, using his size and better inside skills. Wilder didn’t have an inside game or the size to fight Fury off once he got in close. Joshua is a different story. He’s big, powerful, and he can punch without knockout force in close.
Joshua and Fury should fight just once, not twice
“I don’t know why they put a two-fight deal in the contract,” said Chisora about Joshua and Fury. “It shouldn’t be two fights. It should be the winner takes all and moves on.
“There’s no need for two fights. Why did they do that? Other people are waiting to fight for those belts. They shouldn’t do that. This is the dilemma Dillian Whyte has. It should be, you’re fighting for the world title, one fight, and that’s it. If AJ is fighting Pulev, it should be one deal, that’s it.
“There’s no rematch, and there’s nothing else—the same thing with Deontay and Tyson Fury. You beat me once, that’s it. Go back to the back of the line. Next up. This is a problem that’s happening in boxing now.
“You’ve got three-fight deals. It’s all to do with the promoters, the management, and the promoters. They just want to hold onto something, but to make it more interesting, it should be no rematch or nothing else. You lose the fight; you’re done. It makes boxing more interesting.
“Forget rematches. You don’t need rematches. Why do you need protection? You should come in there, work hard, and make sure you don’t lose. Back in the day, there were no clauses and rematches,” said Chisora.
If Dereck had been keeping up with boxing for the last 15 years, he’d had seen that the promoters have been staging rematches between champions for ages. Look at Manny Pacquiao with his numerous rematches with Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez, and Tim Bradley. This kind of thing has been taking place for a long time.
Boxing is a business, so it makes sense for the promoters to stage rematches between the famous fighters.