WBC interim heavyweight champion Dillian Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) will be in action next month in defense against Otto Wallin (22-1, 14 KOs) at the O2 Arena in London, England. The terms have been agreed between Dillian and Otto for this compelling match.
With Wallin’s toughness, great chin, high work rate, and huge size, he can win this fight. That would make things interesting if Wallin is the one that challenges for the WBC title next year instead of Whyte.
This is a brave move for the 33-year-old Whyte because he’s taking on one of the better heavyweights in the division, the 6’6″ Swede Wallin, and he’s got much to lose if he gets beat.
“The Body Snatcher” Whyte will be facing the 30-year-old Wallin in the main event on October 30th on DAZN. If it goes well for Whyte, he’ll be in line to face the last man standing between the series of fights involving Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua, and Oleksandr Usyk.
This fight could be as tough for Whyte as his first match-up with Alexander Povetkin last year. Whyte was knocked out in the fifth round in that fight, which wrecked his chances for a world title shot.
Although Whyte avenged the loss by beating a weakened COVID-19 ravaged Povetkin in their rematch last March, he still hasn’t gotten his long-awaited title shot.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn looked at matching Whyte against Jermaine Franklin or Chris Arreola, but he instead went with Wallin.
It’s unclear who decided for Whyte to fight Wallin, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Dillian made the call.
After all, Whyte would have gained NOTHING by fighting the 40-year-old Arreola or the obscure heavyweight Franklin, who isn’t ranked in the top 15 by any of the four sanctioning bodies.
Whyte cannot afford to lose to Wallin if he wants a title shot in 2022 or 2023.
A loss here for Whyte would be devasting, and it could potentially permanently wreck his chances for a fight against Tyson Fury or Anthony Joshua.
At 33, Whyte doesn’t have a lot of time left in the prime of his career, and there are plenty of younger heavyweights coming up ranks that could crowd him out.
Whyte’s best wins as a pro come against these heavyweights:
- Derek Chisora x 2
- Robert Helenius
- Joseph Parker
- Mariusz Wach
- Alexander Povetkin
- Oscar Rivas
- David Allen
Wallin will be coming into the October 30th fight, with Whyte winning his last two fights against Travis Kauffman and Dominic Breazeale. Those fights took place in 2020 and 2021.
Before the southpaw Wallin fought those two guys, he lost a 12 round decision to Tyson Fury in a war in Las Vegas in September 2019. In the second round, fury suffered a severe cut over his right eye that would later require 47 stitches to close.
To say that Fury was lucky the fight wasn’t stopped is an understatement. It was the same good luck that Fury had when he was knocked unconscious by Deontay Wilder in the 12th round in their first fight in 2018.
Given how hurt Fury was, the referee should have stopped the fight. The cut was the same situation. The ringside doctor should have stopped the fight, and if he’d done that, Wallin would have won.
Some fans question whether the ringside doctor would have acted differently if it had been Wallin that was cut in the second round instead of the A-side fighter Fury.