It hasn’t taken long for the news of Luis Ortiz’ failed drugs test to reach British heavyweight Dillian Whyte – and Whyte sees opportunity in the demise of the Cuban’s November 4 fight with Deontay Wilder.
Whyte, who has wanted and called out for a shot at Wilder and his WBC crown for some time, took to his twitter account a couple of hours ago, basically writing how Wilder must now face him instead of Ortiz.
“No excuses now, I’ll take Ortiz’ place,” wrote Whyte, adding the words, “Eddie Hearn make this fight now.”
If Wilder is still in the mood to fight on November 4 and if no other opportunity to make use of the work he has put in in training camp arises, then why not Wilder vs. Whyte?
It would not be as big as Wilder against Ortiz, far from it, but as a short notice fight replacement, this one would certainly fit the bill.
Wilder has not boxed since back in February (and he had a seven months layoff due to injury before that bout – a KO win over Gerald Washington) and Whyte, who was pencilled in to fight on the October 28 Anthony Joshua-Kubrat Pulev card in Cardiff, does not have an opponent yet.
With five weeks to go until November 4, Whyte, presumably already in decent shape, would have just enough time to whip himself into world championship calibre shape.
Wilder may or may not express interest in facing Whyte, or anyone else, in November; as it would certainly be understandable if he were so disappointed he found it hard to get sufficiently motivated for anyone other than Ortiz (and Wilder was training to face a southpaw after all).
Wilder was oh, so looking forward to fighting Ortiz, beating him and then, as he put it himself at the official press conference (which Ortiz failed to attend, supposedly due to traffic problems) “getting my respect.”
Will Wilder feel a win over Whyte would get him much of anything? Again though, this fight would be better than no fight. Wilder must be given enough time to assess has options. But he has at least one to look at already.