Once-beaten British world heavyweight contender Dillian Whyte, who absolutely craves a shot at WBC ruler Deontay Wilder, will box his US debut in August, on the big Terence Crawford-Julius Indongo 140 pound unification clash.
Whyte, beaten only by current WBA/IBF heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua in a terrific action battle, has won four in a row since losing his unbeaten record and he will face TBA on August 19. But the man “The Body Snatcher” has his eyes firmly fixed on is unbeaten KO King Wilder.
Last week, Whyte’s promoter made an offer to Wilder for the fight, with Wilder feeling disrespected by both the amount of cash and the terms of the offer. But Whyte, who spoke with Sky Sports, repeated what Hearn said last week: that the cash on offer was/is far more than Wilder has earned in previous fights.
“Guys like Deontay Wilder are an embarrassment to heavyweight boxing,” Whyte said yesterday. “All the great champions have losses on their record because they fought other great fighters and that’s the problem with Deontay Wilder, his last ten fights have been with nobody. We have offered him five times more money than he made for his last fight, but he doesn’t want to fight. Why’s he avoiding? Because he knows I’m dangerous and he knows that he’ll lose the fight.”
It is perhaps strange that Wilder is not in the slightest bit interested in taking on Whyte; unless of course he has a bigger, more significant fight lined up that he has not yet revealed. Wilder has not boxed since February, when he took out inexperienced pro Gerald Washington, so why not take on Whyte and pick up a decent payday?
Of course Wilder wants the big, big fights against the likes of Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, but will he get them any time soon? If not, and it doesn’t look as though either massive match-up will happen this year, or even in the first half of next year, who else – aside from that pointlessly mandated return with the creakingly inactive Bermane Stiverne (who, to be fair, Wilder may be forced to fight next) – will Wilder fight next?
Whyte is highly ranked, he is colourful, exciting and he is, as he says himself, dangerous (just ask Joshua). Wiling to travel to the US as he is, Whyte seems to be the ideal next foe for Wilder. Does Wilder really see something to fear in the fight, though?
