Absolutely everyone with a fair mind knows British heavyweight Dillian Whyte is THE single most deserving fighter out there when it comes to a shot at the heavyweight title. Whyte has been the WBC mandatory for the longest time, he is the interim WBC champion and he has done everything asked of him in the ring. But still Whyte is kept waiting. And waiting and waiting.
Now, hearing how current WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury will fight Deontay Wilder next, in a third fight, and then go into not one but two mega-fights with Anthony Joshua, Whyte is utterly frustrated, wondering just when his time will come. As it is, Whyte must be given a shot at the WBC belt by the end of February 2021, but if Fury fights Joshua next year – in a unification fight with WBA/IBF/WBO ruler Joshua – what then?
Whyte has now decided it is time to take legal action against the WBC; as president Mauricio Sulaiman has confirmed to Sky Sports:
“There is a procedure with regrads to the date of the mandatory in the heavyweight division. Upon direct advice of WBC legal counsel I am not in position to discuss any further,” Sulaiman said.
Whyte has, like the rest of us, heard talk of the WBC possibly making Fury their “franchise champion,” and understandably “The Bodysnatcher” does not like the idea at all. Bottom line: Whyte deserves his shot at the real title, not a vacant version of it. Whyte wanted to fight Wilder for the longest time yet was made to wait; Wilder eventually losing to Fury. Now Whyte is fuming over how he is expected to wait again, until Fury has fought Joshua.
It’s not clear who make up Whyte’s legal team or when action will be taken. But it’s more than clear that Whyte has had enough. And who can possibly blame him? Fighters have only a limited time in which to fight the big fights and be capable of winning them, and here is Whyte, forced to watch many months of his prime years slide on by through zero fault of his own.
Whyte’s position was of course muddled somewhat last year, when he was embroiled in that doping issue following his win over Oscar Rivas. Whyte was wrongly accused of having taken an illegal supplement and his WBC mandatory status was suspended. Whyte was of course fully cleared of any wrongdoing but by then Fury and Wilder had sorted out their rematch as well as their upcoming third fight.
Whyte has now been the WBC mandatory challenger for over 1,000 days. Truly incredible. And wholly unfair.
