By Huck Allen: Dillian ‘The Body Snatcher’ Whyte will be defending his WBC interim heavyweight title against #12 IBF Otto Wallin on October 30th at the O2 Arena in London, England.
The two big heavyweights have reportedly agreed to terms for a fight that will be shown on DAZN.
6’6″ Wallin (22-1, 14 KOs) is a risky fight for Whyte because he’s younger, tough, and has a good chin. If Wallin can take Whyte into the trenches, he may stop him.
It’s no secret that the big 6’4″ Brit has had problems with his punch resistance during his career, and Wallin has got more than enough power to get the job done.
Wallin gave Fury the fight of his life in September 2019, losing a 12 round unanimous decision in a war. The fight should have been stopped early due to a bad cut that Fury suffered over his right eye.
Surprisingly, the ringside doctor didn’t order the fight to be halted, which some boxing fans believe due to Fury’s status as a star.
They believe that if Fury were just another regular Joe, the fight would have been halted, and Wallin given the victory.
Wallin gave Fury all kinds of problems with his inside fighting, powerful left hand, and high volume attack.
For Fury, it was the perfect opponent to get him ready for his rematch with Deontay Wilder in February of last year. Wallin toughened Fury up with his inside fighting, and he was able to use what he learned against Wilder to great effectiveness.
In his last two fights, Wallin came back from his loss to Fury to defeat Dominic Breazeale and Travis Kauffman. Otto defeated former world title challenger Breazeale by a 12 round unanimous decision last February in Uncasville, Connecticut. Last year, Wallin stopped Kauffman in the fifth round in August 2020.
Whyte risking his WBC mandatory spot
If Whyte loses this fight, he can say goodbye to his title shot against WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
Whyte earned the WBC mandatory Oscar Rivas in 2019, and he’s been patiently waiting ever since for his title shot.
This is a much better opponent than previously thought for the 33-year-old Whyte, as his promoter Eddie Hearn had been talking about potentially matching him against little-known American Jermaine Franklin for over a month.
40-year-old Chris Arreola was also mentioned as running for Whyte’s October 30th fight, but he’s lost his last two fights.
Given Arreola’s lack of recent success, there wouldn’t be much upside for Whyte to face him.
Whyte recently bounced back from his knockout loss to Alexander Povetkin a year ago to stop him in the fourth round last March. It was an excellent victory for Whyte, but he didn’t get full credit for the win because Povetkin was coming off a bad case of COVID-19.
Dillian has past wins over former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker, Derek Chisora, Mariusz Wach, Robert Helenius, Povetkin, and Rivas.
In 2015, Whyte was knocked out in the seventh round by Anthony Joshua in a competitive fight. In the second round, Whyte staggered Joshua with a big left hook. However, Whyte gassed out in the round and was never able to get his second wind. Joshua gassed as well, but he could come back in the seventh to stop the badly fatigued Whyte.