WHILE the WBC Silver heavyweight strap is hardly significant, for Dillian Whyte winning it in his March clash with Lucas Browne will solidify the Londoner’s ranking with the WBC and help him nail down a shot at the WBC world title currently held by Deontay Wilder.
It remains to be seen though whether Whyte will beat old rival, and unified WBA and IBF heavyweight boss, Anthony Joshua to a fight with American champion Wilder.
Eddie Hearn, who promotes both Joshua and Whyte, told Boxing News, “I think we’ve got him cornered, is a good way to put it. Eventually Dillian will be the mandatory for Deontay Wilder, when that is called. Obviously he’s just boxed his mandatory [Bermane Stiverne] so you’re looking normally at like nine months. So it probably won’t be called till September. Will Dillian fight in the summer? Possibly. But I think we’ve got Wilder cornered. If he doesn’t want to fight Joshua, he’s going to have to fight Dillian Whyte.”
But if Whyte has to wait, his time will still come and he could get a lucrative rematch with Joshua, if the unified champion were to beat both Joseph Parker and Deontay Wilder in 2018.
“I’m almost certain Joshua-Wilder will happen this year. It’s just whether it’s in the summer or November, December. We may box in the summer, depending on how the Parker fight goes. Whether that’s Wilder or not, we’ll see,” Hearn said.
“I want Dillian to fight for the world title and Joshua wants to fight Whyte as well. Every time he gets asked the question ‘who else would you like to fight?’ he says Wilder, Whyte, you know.”
