WBC dropped a bomb on heavyweight champion Tyson Fury on Tuesday ordering him to face Dillian ‘The Body Snatcher’ Whyte next. Negotiations have 30 days to finish before a purse bid is ordered.
This doesn’t mean Fury will actually fight Whyte next because he could choose to dump the WBC belt and ask them to be elevated to Franchise champion.
With $100 million paydays awaiting Fury against the winner of the Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksander Usyk fight, he would be a fool to face Whyte. It’s not that Whyte is a threat to beating Fury, but anyone can get lucky, especially when they’re as desperate as Dillian.
He’s going to be swinging for the fences, hoping to catch Fury with a big shot.
The British public will be overjoyed at the news of the World Boxing Council ordering the Fury vs. Whyte fight because many of them have been eagerly calling for this fight for years. But for U.S fans, this is a less interesting fight than seeing Fury fight Andy Ruiz Jr, Frank Sanchez, Oleksandr Usyk, Luis Ortiz, or Anthony Joshua.
After two years of waiting as the WBC mandatory, Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) will finally get his title shot against Fury if he doesn’t vacate or ask to be elevated to Franchise champion.
Whyte will be a good tune-up fight for Fury to get some rounds in to prepare him to face the winner of the Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk rematch in 2022.
At this point in Whyte’s career, his talent is on the level of the 2016 version of Dereck Chisora. Whyte has really deteriorated badly in the last couple of years from his wars with Alexander Povetkin, Chisora, Oscar Rivas, Mariusz Wach, Joseph Parker, and Robert Helenius.
WBC heavyweight champion Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) had hoped that he would get a chance to face IBF/WBA/WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed championship next.
What prevented that fight from happening was Anthony Joshua activating his rematch clause in his contract to enforce a second fight against Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) after losing to the former undisputed cruiserweight champion three months ago on September 25th
Team Fury wanted Joshua to step aside so they could take care of Usyk, but he failed to make a quick decision on whether he would do so.
Fortunately, there’s still the possibility of Joshua stepping aside, but he’ll need to come down to earth and forget about the $40 million that his promoter Eddie Hearn was talking about him needing. A more reasonable number would be in the seven digits, not eight.
Depending on your view of the 33-year-old Whyte, fans will see the World Boxing Council’s decision to order the fight as good news for terrible.
Whyte’s recent shoulder injury that wiped out his October 30th fight against Otto Wallin put him in a bad light because many people think he wasn’t injured.
The fact that Whyte chose not to reschedule the Wallin fight confirmed in the eyes of the suspicious fans that he wasn’t hurt, and instead was just avoiding the match after learning that the WBC said he could face Fury next.
Whyte had pushed for a title shot for many years, believing that his #1 ranking with the WBC was the equivalent of being the mandatory. It wasn’t until 2019 that Whyte finally agreed to take part in a title eliminator against Oscar Rivas.
