By Charles Brun: In what sounds like a pipe dream, the recently knocked out heavyweight Dillian Whyte says he wants to take a stay-busy fight against Luis Ortiz in February and then face Alexander Povetkin in a rematch in April or May.
It’s a little late in the game for Whyte to suddenly be showing interest in fighting the talented Cuban ‘King Kong’ Ortiz (32-2, 27 KOs) because he’s TWICE been ordered by the WBC to face him in title eliminators, and he chose not to.
Ortiz has a better option against Ruiz
#3 WBC Ortiz doesn’t need a fight against Whyte because he’s got a chance to face former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr in 2021. If Ortiz beats Ruiz, he would be able to fight for the WBC title in 2022.
A fight between Ortiz and Ruiz Jr would attract a lot more interest in the United States than a match involving the talented Cuban and Whyte. But that doesn’t mean a Whyte vs. Ortiz fight still can’t happen.
If Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn throws a bunch of money at Ortiz with a large offer, he’ll probably accept. Would Hearn do that? Probably not because that’s not the fight that he wants.
He wants to see Whyte face Povetkin, and he knows that Ortiz is incredibly dangerous for Dillian.
Dillian targeting Luis Ortiz in February
“Let me fight Luis Ortiz in February, and then I’ll fight you [Povetkin] later in the year because you got COVID, and I want you to recover,'” said Whyte to the Toe-to-Toe podcast.
“I’ll fight Luis Ortiz in February, and then I’ll fight Povetkin in April or May time,” said Dillian.
If Whyte is serious about wanting to fight Ortiz next, he’s asking for trouble. With the brutal knockout that he suffered in his last fight against Povetkin, he may not be fully recovered yet.
It’s not a good idea for Whyte to be taking on Luis Ortiz, given what he just went through in being knocked cold last August by Povetkin.
It’s a bad idea for Whyte to take on Povetkin as well, but at least with that fight, there’s a huge payoff with the WBC mandatory spot being up for grabs.
There won’t be a big prize at the end of the rainbow for Whyte if he takes on the two-time world title challenger Luis ‘King Kong.’
If Whyte beats Ortiz, boxing fans will likely be unimpressed and point out that the Cuban fighter has twice been knocked out by Wilder, and he’s turning 42 in March.
Many boxing fans believe Ortiz to be ten years older than his chronological age of 41, and they view him as someone in his early 50s.
You hate to say it, but Whyte would look bad if he were to lose to Ortiz, especially if he’s knocked cold as we saw from Dillian against Povetkin.
Luis Ortiz still fighting at a high level
Ortiz is coming off of a devastating first-round knockout of Alexander Flores last month on November 7th in Los Angeles, California. That version of Ortiz would be a pure nightmare for Whyte or Povetkin.
Instead of agreeing to take on Ortiz in a title eliminator in 2017 and 2019, Whyte fought Dereck Chisora, Joseph Parker, Robert Helenius, and Lucas ‘Big Daddy’ Crowne.
Interestingly, Whyte believed that the WBC would make him the mandatory to former champion Deontay Wilder despite him not agreeing to fight in their ordered title eliminators against Ortiz.
In other words, Whyte wanted to pick who he would fight in a title eliminator rather than it being done by the WBC. Finally, Whyte agreed to face Oscar Rivas in a title eliminator in 2019, and he was barely scared by with a 12 round decision win.
It’s unclear whether Whyte would have taken the fight if the WBC had again ordered him to face the dangerous southpaw Luis Ortiz. Charles Brun’s guess is, Whyte would have turned it down.
‘The Body Snatcher’ Whyte (27-2, 18 KOs) would fight Povetkin (36-2-1, 25 KOs) next, but the former WBA heavyweight champion needs more time to recover from his case of COVID 19.
Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn is adamant about needing to wait until Povetkin is ready to fight him in the first half of 2021. Hearn doesn’t want Whyte to fight anyone in between that fight, and it’s understandable why.
Dillian has everything to lose
If Whyte losses to Ortiz, he’ll be stuck fighting them a second time. Whyte would still be able to get the rematch with Povetkin, but it would awful with him coming off a loss to someone like 41-year-old Ortiz.
Although Dillian remains skeptical about the excuse being given by the 41-year-old Povetkin, he’s got little choice but to wait until he’s ready.
Whyte needs to avenge his fifth-round knockout loss to Povetkin last August to regain the WBC mandatory spot he lost.
You can argue that Whyte’s decision to face Povetkin last summer on August 22nd needlessly was a major blunder on his part, as Dillian didn’t need to take that fight. He was already the World Boxing Council mandatory challenger to WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
All Whyte needed to do was wait until the first half of 2021, and he would have been in a position to challenge Fury for his WBC belt.
Whyte needs to listen to his promoter Hearn, who is dead set against him taking a tune-up fight against one of the top heavyweights in the division.
If Whyte had more talent, obviously, Hearn would be on board with letting him take on someone like Ortiz. We saw from Whyte against Povetkin, Mariusz Wach, Joseph Parker, and Dereck Chisora, a vulnerable fighter against any decent heavyweight.
40-year-old journeyman Wach put hands-on Whyte last year in December in their fight on Saudi, and that was a fight in which Dillian took a lot of heavy punishment.
Unlike Hughie Fury, Whyte didn’t run around the ring against the 6’7″ Wach. He stood in front of him and slugged, and he got hit a lot.
After the fight, Whyte sounded like he was punch drunk during an interview. If Wach was able to do that to Dillian, imagine what Ortiz would do.
Whyte wants five big names before retiring
“I want five more fights and then I retire. If I get the five fights I want, they’d be Wider, Povetkin, Luis Ortiz, Tyson Fury, and Joshua,” said Whyte to Toe to Toe podcast.
“Even now, Povetkin is delaying, they keep saying he’s sick. ‘I want you to be the best when we fight.
“That’s what I’m saying to him now because he needs to recover. It’s a serious situation because he’s had COVID and has a lung problem.
“So let me and Luis Ortiz fight and I’ll fight Povetkin after,” said Whyte.
Of the names that Whyte listed on his five-man shortlist, the only real ones that he has a chance of facing are Ortiz and Povetkin. If Whyte loses to one or both of those guys, it’s game over.
Fury and Joshua will never fight Whyte if he gets beaten again by Povetkin, and the situation would be the same if Ortiz defeats him.
Deontay (42-1-1, 41 KOs) has bigger fish to fry rather than looking to help Whyte out with a fight.
Wilder is trying to force the reluctant Fury to honor his rematch contract, and the two are still going through a mediation process. Wilder isn’t going to take a timeout from that to face Whyte. That doesn’t make sense.