By Charles Brun: The WBC plans on ordering the winner of the trilogy match between WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder to defend against mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte as soon as they meet up for a third time.
World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman once again affirmed that he’d be ordering the Fury-Wilder III to face Whyte (27-1, 18 KOs) in their net fight.
What happens if Fury vacates?
The drama over Whyte is getting tiresome for some boxing fans, as he’s been complaining about it for the last three years. Whyte would have gotten his title shot by now if he hadn’t rejected fighting in a WBC title eliminator in 2018, and then turned down a fight against Joshua in 2019.
The constant missteps by Whyte have left him without a title shot, but it’s also allowed him to beat lesser guys to become a famous PPV fighter in the UK. Had Whyte fought for a world title in 208, he might have lost already, and he’d be yesterday’s news.
For Fury, he has the power to end it by vacating his WBC belt so that Whyte can fight for the strap against Luis Ortiz or Andy Ruiz Jr. That’s not what Dillian or his promote Eddie Hearn wants, but it’ll put an end to the complaining on his end.
Sulaiman notes that it’s possible that Whyte won’t get his title shot by February of 2021 if Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) and Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) battle on December 19 or in February as talked about by Top Rank promoter Bob Arum recently.
Nevertheless, the WBC will order the Fury-Wilder 3 fight to face Whyte, 32, in their next match after their trilogy match.
Dillian needs to beat Povetkin on August 22
Whyte still needs to defeat Alexander Povetkin 35-2-1, 24 KOs) in their scheduled contest this month on August 22 at the Matchroom Fight Camp to stay in the picture to challenge for the WBC title. Dillian’s promoter Eddie Hearn seems confident that he’ll get the job done against the 40-year-old Povetkin, but we’ll have to see.
Hearn says that Whyte WON’T take a step aside, and the only way that he won’t fight for the title is if Fury vacates his WBC title. He doesn’t want that. Eddie seems confident that Fury will beat Wilder, and Whyte will defeat Povetkin.
If that fails to happen on both sides, we’ll see what Hearn’s plans are then. Povetkin will be the one that will be looking to challenge for the WBC title, and it’ll be against Wilder. The chances are that Denontay will vacate the WBC belt and take on Joshua rather than put time and effort into facing Povetkin.
“What I’m hearing is what we hoped the WBC would enforce, which is the promise that fight has to happen,” said Hearn to Sky Sports Boxing on the World Boxing Council to order the Fury vs. Wilder III winner to face Whyte.
Does ‘The Body Snatcher’ deserve a title shot?
“The official date is at the end of February 2021, but obviously if Wilder-Fury 3 takes place in December, maybe that gets pushed back a bit. Great news for Dillian Whyte.
“He’s been pushing so hard. He fully deserves his shot more than anyone in boxing. Forget about the heavyweight division. But he does business to attend to on August 22 against Alexander Povetkin,” said Hearn.
Whyte has beaten some B and C-level heavyweights, but no one to get excited about the way Hearn is right now.
These are Whyte’s best wins in the last four years:
- Dereck Chisora x 2
- Joseph Parker
- Lucas Browne
- Robert Helenius
- Oscar Rivas
- Mariusz Wach
Parker and Rivas are decent heavyweights, but Whyte’s wins over those guys are controversial due to blown calls by the referees. Whyte got away with a lot of roughhouse tactics against both of those fighters that arguably helped.
Chisora is a high-level journeyman fighter, Helenius is a fringe contender, and Browne and Wach are both old guys. What’s missing from Whyte’s resume are wins over quality heavyweights.
Joshua may face Usyk before Fury
“That makes that fight even more dangerous,” Hearn continued on the Whyte vs. Povetkin match on August 22. “But as far as we’re concerned, Fury-Wilder must happen this year, and it doesn’t, we’re ready to go Whyte against Fury, subject to him beating Povetkin in a couple of weeks.
“AJ will box in December, and he won’t pack again until June or July next year. So there’s plenty of time for him to fit in that mandatory defense [for Fury against Whyte].
“AJ himself may have a mandatory defense against Oleksandr Usyk if Dereck Chisora doesn’t upset the odds in that fight. There are plenty of hurdles to overcome, but for Dillian Whyte, who has been pushing so hard for a world championship shot. This makes the Alexander Povetkin fight even more vital,” said Hearn.
It would be surprising if Hearn lets Joshua face Usyk before fighting Fury, and it’s doubtful that he will. Hearn likely realizes the criticism he’ll get if Fury faces Whyte while Joshua ignores his WBO mandatory Usyk. That’s why Hearn is saying that Joshua may fight Usyk because if he doesn’t say something, he’s inviting criticism.
Hearn: Whyte won’t take a step aside
“It doesn’t appear to me that there is a way around [Fury vs. Whyte] not happening, other than a ‘step-aside’ to Whyte, which I can tell you has absolutely no chance of happening, or Fury vacating the WBC title, which we don’t want to happen either,” said Hearn said to skysports.com.
No one is offering Whyte a step aside payment, and it’s unlikely that it’s even being entertained. If Fury beats Wilder, he’ll likely vacate his WBC title so that he can straight into the fight with Joshua. There’s nothing Hearn do about that other than to tell Joshua not to fight Fury until after he faces Whyte first.
Would Hearn make that move? As separate as he’s starting to sound about wanting Fury to fight Whyte, you can’t put it past him. It wouldn’t make any sense, though, as Whyte will eventually get a chance to fight Fury after he beats Joshua.
There are only a small handful of popular heavyweights in the division, and Whyte is one of them.