Dillian Whyte wouldn’t pick a winner when he was asked recently on “The DAZN Boxing Show” who will emerge victorious from the upcoming Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder fight.
Whyte thinks fans are disinterested in the third Fury-Wilder showdown because so much time has elapsed between their rematch and this fight. England’s Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) and Alabama’s Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) were supposed to meet for the third time July 24, but their fight for Fury’s WBC heavyweight title was postponed for 2½ months because Fury contracted COVID-19 early in July.
“I don’t know, and I don’t think no one cares who win that fight, to be honest,” Whyte stated Saturday during a show that was streamed live from Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. “I think the fight is past its sell-by date now. It’s gone on too much. If Wilder win, there may be a fourth fight. You feel me? If Wilder win, there may be even a fourth fight. So, it’s like, ‘Yo!’”
Fury, 33, and Wilder, 35, will headline an ESPN/FOX Sports Pay-Per-View show October 9 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Regardless of the outcome, neither fighter is contractually tied to a fourth fight.
London’s Whyte obviously has significant interest in who wins their bout because he is in position to fight the winner. The 33-year-old Whyte owns the WBC interim heavyweight title, which he regained when he avenged his brutal knockout defeat to Russia’s Alexander Povetkin by stopping Povetkin in the fourth round of their immediate rematch March 27 at Europa Point Sports Complex in Gibraltar.
Based on his well-documented dealings with the WBC, however, Whyte embraced another difficult fight scheduled for October 30, rather than waiting around for his supposed shot at the Fury-Wilder winner. The Jamaican-born Whyte (28-1, 19 KOs) is set to face Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin (22-1, 14 KOs, 1 NC) in a 12-round main event DAZN will stream that night from O2 Arena in London.
“Yeah, you know, the shot should’ve been years and years ago,” Whyte said. “But, you know, what do I do? Do I sit home and cry about it? Listen, there’s enough people in the world that sit home and moan about stuff and cry about stuff. I could do what [Bermane] Stiverne did with Wilder – sit down for two years and do nothing, and come and get knocked out in five seconds [in their rematch in November 2017]. You know, I don’t wanna do that.
“I wanna keep fighting. You know, I’ve got a fan base. I’ve got people following me. I wanna keep fighting, keep entertaining and keep growing and keep learning. People forget I only had seven amateur fights. So, I’m fighting these dudes that’s had 200 amateur fights, 60 amateur [fights]. You know what I’m saying?”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.