ACCORDING to the World Boxing Council (WBC), forgotten man Dillian Whyte won’t receive a shot at their heavyweight title until February 2021 at the earliest – and that’s IF his ongoing situation is resolved with UK Anti-Doping.
Whyte was installed as mandatory challenger for the belt, currently held by Deontay Wilder, when he defeated Oscar Rivas on July 20 in London. However, this status was suspended by the WBC when an alleged “adverse finding” in a UKAD test was reportedly received before the fight took place.
To break the silence, a WBC statement on Wednesday read: “No. 1-ranked Dillian Whyte’s situation is in process with UKAD and Whyte’s representatives, and with the WBC.
“If his situation is resolved, he will become the mandatory challenger for February 2021.”
In the meantime, Wilder makes the next defence of his belt in a rematch against Luis Ortiz on November 23, before hopefully securing another rematch, this time against Tyson Fury, for February.
It is not yet known when or if Whyte will be boxing again.
Earlier this week Dereck Chisora forgot all about the fact he is boxing David Price this Saturday (October 26) in London and allowed himself to dream of one day landing a fight against brilliant former cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
In typically bullish fashion, the Finchley heavyweight criticised Usyk’s recent win over Chazz Witherspoon and told him to stop messing around with fringe contenders.
Usyk has yet to offer a reply, and likely won’t feel the need to, yet Eddie Hearn, the Ukrainian’s promoter, says Chisora – or Price – could indeed be potential opponents for the cruiserweight king next year.
“It depends what Usyk wants to do, in terms of fighting for the title,” Hearn told Sky Sports. “My instruction is that he wants to go straight into a world heavyweight title fight. If he wants, the winner of Chisora vs. Price would be huge in the UK.
“UK fans love Usyk and would love to see him come back as a heavyweight. I would certainly be open to the winner of Chisora vs. Price fighting Usyk, if they were my instructions (from Usyk).
“The winner of Chisora vs. Price goes into a monster fight whether it’s in Liverpool or London. Winning on Saturday night gives them the opportunity to fight anybody in the division.”
Seemingly Oleksandr Usyk, the gifted southpaw with a propensity to make the difficult appear easy, can do what he wants then. No change there.
