Eddie Hearn talks Dillian Whyte shoulder injury

By Michael Collins - 10/27/2021 - Comments

Dillian Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn maintains that his shoulder injury was actual and that he had to pull out of his fight against Otto Wallin for this Saturday, October 30th, after receiving advice from his doctor. Whyte felt pain even when he wasn’t working out.

All of this could be EASILY defused if Whyte or Hearn produced the shoulder scans of his injured shoulder. Fans couldn’t say anything if the scans were produced snd shown to the fans, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.

The boxing world believes that Whyte’s injury was bogus because he’s not talking about wanting to reschedule the fight with the big 6’6″ Wallin (22-1, 14 KOs).

If you’re injured, the natural thing to do is to reschedule, especially if boxing fans believe you’re faking the injury.

Since Whyte hasn’t announced that he plans on rescheduling with Wallin, boxing fans believe their worst suspicions about his rationale for pulling out of the fight.

They think Whyte wanted to pull out because he’s got a big payday in front of him in being mandated by the World Boxing Council to challenge WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury next by March of next year.

Wallin’s team were briefed

“I didn’t call for. I said I hadn’t seen,” said Hearn to iFL TV when reminded that he asked aloud about wanting to see Daniel  Dubois Xrays on an eye problem after loss to Joe Joyce.

Eddie Hearn talks Dillian Whyte shoulder injury

“It’s a different type of scenario here. We have full doctor’s reports on the injury [from Dillian Whyte]. We’ve spoken to [Dmitry] Salita, we’ve spoken to the team of Otto Wallin.

“All I said was, we hadn’t seen the scan. When Kell Brook broke his cheekbone, he posted his scan. It’s up to the fighter to post his scan.

“It’s very different when you’re talking about a shoulder injury from a cheekbone fracture. Dubois doesn’t have to show any scans to anyone.

“That’s all I said was, we hadn’t seen it. I’m just telling you that Dillian Whyte has a shoulder injury, and we’ve gotten the medical reports.  That’s it, and it’s not like.

“There’s a press conference tomorrow; you can talk to him about the injury. You got a guy [Whyte] only four weeks ago where the WBC put out that paperwork saying his mandatory is Tyson Fury.

“We sat down, and we all agreed to proceed with this fight [Otto Wallin]. He said, ‘I’m fine. I haven’t boxed since March, and I don’t want to wait until next March when I fight again.  I want to fight,” said Hearn.

Eddie says Wallin’s promoter Dmitry Salita was briefed on Whyte’s shoulder injury problem. However, the real question is whether Salita was shown the MRI scans from Whyte’s shoulder injury?

I’m sure Salita would have liked to have seen the scans if he wasn’t shown then.

Hearn: Whyte doesn’t have to show anything

“Okay, we got ahead with Otto Wallin,” said Hearn. “About two and a half weeks later, he has a shoulder niggle, nothing major that we didn’t think, and then he has a couple of days off sparring.

“He went and saw a doctor and was in pain even when he’s not sparring. They said, ‘You can’t fight,’ and he said, ‘Let me fight.’

“They said, ‘You can’t fight. You’re going to damage your shoulder, and it could have serious long-term effects. You won’t be able to finish the fight. You should not be fighting, and he has to pull out of the fight.’

“He spent a fortune on the training camp. We don’t get to deliver a massive fight for DAZN as planned on October 30th.

“The only thing is a disaster for everybody. There is no benefit for anybody not fighting. You know Dillian Whyte.

“Do you think he wants to wait until February or March to fight. You can speak to Dillian Whyte about that information, and he’ll give you the information you need.

“That medical report has been made by the doctor. But it’s not for me to start giving out medical records. ‘Hey, mate. I got it. here it is.’

“Sometimes when a fighter loses in a defeat like that and people. This is an injury that has prevented him [Whyte] from fighting.

He hasn’t got to show any medical records, but you can talk to Dillian tomorrow. We have a press conference tomorrow.

“Nobody is hiding from anything. It’s unbelievable the conspiracy. If we were going to pull out of this fight because of Tyson Fury, we would have done it four weeks ago. It was easy for us to do,” Hearn said.

Suppose Whyte isn’t going to show the boxing public his shoulder scans from his MRI. In that case, he can at least show them to Otto Wallin and his promoter Dmitry Salita so that they can rest knowing that the injury was valid and not a bogus one dreamed up to help Dillian avoid a loss.

Dillian wouldn’t have made it through the fight

“By the way, even when that got made, there were a lot of people saying to me, ‘You should.’ He [Whyte] was never going to pull out of this fight,” said Hearn.

“He hasn’t boxed since March. He’s going to be out of the ring for a year before he fights Tyson Fury. That’s not ideal.

“I don’t think he would have been able to complete the fight [with Wallin].

“You can’t fight like that when the stakes are on the line like that in the heavyweight division when you’ve got one arm. He ain’t happy. I’m sure he’ll give you some gold tomorrow.

“No,” said Hearn when asked if Wallin was compensated for Whyte pulling out.  “It’s a standard procedure of a fight that’s fallen through. It’s happened loads of time.

“It’s happened to my fighters a million times. I spoke to Dmitry Salita last night, and he’s frustrated, Wallin’s frustrated, and I said, ‘Maybe we reschedule the fight.

“I got to be honest with you; he’s going to get mandated to fight Tyson Fury. What do you think he’s going to do?’He said, ‘No, I understand.’ He said, ‘We’re just frustrated.

“We were trying to make the fight.’ I said, ‘I’ll try to make a fight with you with one of our other guys. Otto Wallin,  a good fighter and a good name.

“It’s now contractually up to us if we reschedule the fight,  and quite honestly, Dmitry, if we’re mandated to fight Tyson Fury next, which is early next year, that is the fight we’ll take.’

“He knows that. We’ll try and help Dmitry make a fight for Otto Wallin. We don’t have to, but we’d like to help if we can,”  said Hearn.

I guess we’ll never know if Whyte would have made it through the Wallin fight or not.

We’ll have to take Hearn at his word that Dillian’s shoulder injury would have prevented him from making it through the fight with Wallin, but it would have been nice if he’d given a try.

Can you imagine Jack Dempsey or Joe Louis pulling out of one of their fights because  of a ‘shoulder niggle?’

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