Dillian Whyte shopping for a big name for June fight: Jennings, Wach, Szpilka, Washington all possible

Dillian Whyte shopping for a big name for June fight: Jennings, Wach, Szpilka, Washington all possible

British heavyweight contender Dillian Whyte, last seen going to war in an absolute thriller with fellow Brit Dereck Chisora, is aiming for a big name to fight in June. Whyte, beaten only by current IBF champ Anthony Joshua, believes he is “just a fight or two from a world title.”

The tough and skilled contender has told ESPN that his preferred choice of opponent for his June bout is twice-beaten Philly fighter Bryant Jennings, but how other former world title challengers Mariusz Wach, Artur Szpilka and Gerald Washington are also on his current hit list.

Kubrat Pulev-Mariusz Wach in the works for September/October

Kubrat Pulev-Mariusz Wach in the works for September/October

Kubrat Pulev, last seen winning the vacant European heavyweight title with a 12-round split decision over Dereck Chisora (the fight was not seen as that close in the opinion of nearly everyone apart from one official) will face Poland’s Mariusz Wach in his first defence, Novinite.com reports. The fight does not have a confirmed date yet, but is expected tp go ahead in either September or October, with the likely venue being Sofia, in Pulev’s hometown of Bulgaria.

Wach blew his chance against Wladimir by not throwing enough punches

Wach blew his chance against Wladimir by not throwing enough punchesBy Michael Collins: In dissecting what went wrong for the huge 6’7 1/2″ Mariusz Wach (27-1, 15 KO’s) last Saturday night in his embarrassingly one-sided 12 round unanimous decision loss to IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (59-3, 50 KO’s) in Hamburg, Germany, it comes down Wach’s failure to let his hands go.

Wach had the built in power to win the fight if he had thrown some damn punches, but no. Wach fought passively by just covering up and every once in awhile throwing a wild right hand that frequently missed badly.

Wach’s mistake was that he just covered up like a sparring partner instead of taking advantage of what could be his only opportunity to ever fight for a world title. I can’t see Wach ever getting another chance at a strap unless the sanctioning bodies give him an inflated ranking off of a bunch of wins over lower level opposition.

Has the time has come to create a new division – a superheavyweight division?

Has the time has come to create a new division – a superheavyweight division?Rob Moore: After watching another Wladimir Klitschko win, this time over the even bigger Mariusz Wach, I had to face up to the fact that my interest in watching much of what the heavyweight division has to offer, has waned considerably . The same division that that used to excite me and initiated my lifelong interest in the sport.

So many fights are truly underwhelming with guys showing limited range of skills, movement and conditioning, leading me to bore my kids with accounts of quality of fighters who graced the division in the past. You could never accuse Wladimir of not coming in in top condition and Wach showed great heart, but was the fight really top quality boxing and entertainment?

Unfortunately it seems like my diminished interest is shared by many, particularly in the US which just isn’t good for the sport’s future. There is certainly a valid point made by many that the Klitschko brothers have dominated the division for so long that it has hurt the division outside of Germany. While there is some mileage in that view, I see the problem as being more fundamental, and can be largely attributed the sheer size and weight of modern day heavyweights and the limitations this brings.

Wach should take a long break to recover from loss to Wladimir

By Kevin Chittenden: Heavyweight Mariusz Wach (27-1, 15 KO’s) should take a long break from boxing to recover from the one-sided 12 round beating he took from IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (59-3, 50 KO’s) last Saturday night in Hamburg, Germany. Wach was hit a reported 425 times by Wladimir in the fight with 115 of them being hard right hands to the head and the other 310 coming from powerful jabs.

Klitschko vs. Wach this Saturday

Klitschko vs. Wach this SaturdayBy Rob Smith, photo: michaelsterlingeaton.com – IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (58-3, 50 KO’s) will be defending his titles this Saturday night against the huge and lumbering Mariusz Wach (27-0, 15 KO’s) at the O2 World Arena in Hamburg, Germany. Wladimir says he’s taking this fight against the inexperienced Wach because none of the other top heavyweights want to fight him.

It’s hard to imagine that being true when there are arguably at least 20 heavyweights that Wladimir could pool from that would give him a tougher test than the 32-year-old Wach. Perhaps the more likely reason that Wladimir selected Wach, besides him being an easy mark, is because of the large Polish fan base that Wach has.

Setting up a fight with Wach is a good money bout compared to some of the other more dangerous options. This is why Wladimir will likely take on another Polish heavyweight in Tomasz Adamek next year in what shapes to be about as bad a mismatch as Wladiimr’s fight against Wach.