Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn says a fight between WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte is the biggest one out there in the division when you take Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk out of the equation.
Fury might be better off depositing his WBC title into the nearest trash bin and washing his hands of the whole Whyte waste of time fight.
Does Fury really want to risk fighting a guy who can’t be counted on to make it through training camp because of a shoulder problem?
What happens if Whyte’s shoulder fails to respond?
Can Whyte be counted on to make it through training camp without his injured shoulder causing him to pull out of a fight with Fury? If you’re Fury, do you really want to risk losing out on an entire year of your career trying to satisfy his WBC mandatory against Whyte?
It’s one thing if Whyte was healthy, but it’s a massive risk on Fury’s part in devoting time to a fight against a guy that just pulled out of his match with Otto Wallin because of a shoulder problem.
It’s not a given that Fury will take the fight with Whyte, which obviously upset Dillian and Hearn to no end. They both seem to certain that Fury will take the fight, but he might not.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said last week that Fury could face Joe Joyce next, which would play out well in the UK and do decent numbers in the U.S.
Whyte and Joyce are viewed in the same light by American fans, who aren’t familiar with either guy. Joyce might be the better option to Fury, though, because he won’t be followed around by the skunk-like taint of being viewed as having faked a shoulder injury the way many boxing fans see Whyte.
Fury vs. Whyte will be big in the UK, but it’ll be virtually ignored by U.S fans. Whyte is seen as another flawed contender by many American boxing fans, who can’t erase the image of him getting knocked cold by 40-year-old Alexander Povetkin in 2020.
Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) is in the enviable position of being the WBC mandatory and interim champion for Fury’s title.
The World Boxing Council has already stated that Fury must defend against the interim champion if he’s unable to negotiate a unification match with IBF/WBA/WBO champion Usyk.
Fury vs. Whyte = Biggest fight out there
“A highly entertaining fight between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder, and right now his profile is bigger than ever, but it must be said with Usyk fighting Anthony Joshua, the biggest out there for Tyson Fury is the Dillian Whyte fight,” said Eddie Hearn during Thursday’s press conference.
“Everybody talks about him [Fury] returning to the UK. That’s an absolute blockbuster,” said Hearn of Tyson. “I’ll be looking forward to negotiations beginning for that fight as well.”
“It’s a major fight in boxing, especially in the UK,” said Whyte of a match between him and Fury. “It’s a major dust-up and it’s one that I’m looking forward to.
“I think Fury will be looking forward to fighting me as well. It’s a big fight. Logically, it’s a big fight, it’s a good upcoming fight and I think it should happen. Let’s see.”
Fury vs. Whyte isn’t that big of a fight, as far as I can tell. Even in the UK, Fury could do better by fighting Joe Joyce because he’s unbeaten and didn’t recently get knocked out by 40-year-old Povetkin.
Dillian has three strikes against him:
- Shoulder issue
- KO loss to Anthony Joshua
- KO loss to Alexander Povetkin
Dillian wasn’t just knocked out by Povetkin, he was knocked out in the clinical sense last year, and it looked so bad.
Whyte concerned Fury will retire
“You can never bank on Tyson Fury because he might just say, ‘I’ve had enough, I don’t want to fight anymore.’ He’s had three fights with Deontay Wilder.
“We don’t know how much it’s taken out of him or whatever. So we just have to wait and see. My team will do what they have to do to make sure they get in position for the Tyson Fury fight. Now, I just need to focus on recovering and healing up and just and go and do what I do,” said Whyte.
Fury’s trainer SugarHill Steward says Tyson has no intentions of retiring from boxing right now. SugarHill says Fury has said nothing about wanting to walk away from the sport right now, and it’s odd that Whyte is talking about the possibility of that happening.
That shows you that Whyte is very worried that he’ll miss out on his mass payday against Fury, which you can argue is a ‘cash-out’ for Dillian.
Whyte will likely never get a fight against Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder, or Oleksandr Usyk. So this fight with Fury, if happens, is as good as it gets for Whyte.
If Fury chooses not to fight Whyte, it’ll put Dillian in a tough position of having to fight for the vacant WBC title if the strap is vacated. Whyte’s chances of beating Joe Joyce, Andy Ruiz Jr, or Luis Ortiz for the vacant WBC title aren’t as good as they were four or five years ago.
Dillian has looked poor in fights with Mariusz Wach, Dereck Chisora, Joseph Parker, and a pre-COVID-19 Alexander Povetkin.
