You would expect Dillian Whyte to be a more prominent name in the heavyweight division with his 25-1 record (18 of those wins coming via knockout). For one reason or another, the Jamiacian Londoner is quickly becoming the man that keeps getting overlooked when it comes to receiving world title fights.
Whyte is currently ranked No. 3 in the U.K, trailing former unified champion Anthony Joshua and the reformed "Gypsy King" Tyson Fury; Joshua handed Whyte his only career loss in 2015, when "The Body Snatcher" ate a knockout in front of the O2 Arena crowd. Whyte is also ranked sixth in the world, fourth with the WBA, as well as being No. 1 with both the WBC and WBO.
With these high rankings, belts and successful final eliminators won, you could easily argue the fact that the 31-year-old deserves to be next in line for a shot at the big time, but that isn’t the case.
MORE: Sign up to DAZN to watch 100+ fight nights a year
So why has Whyte been overlooked heading into his bout with top contender Oscar Rivas (26-0, 18 KOs) on Saturday at the O2 Arena in London for the interim WBC title?
“I’ve been loyal to the WBC for more than three years,”Whyte said during a recent media session. “I’ve won so many fights for them, it’s one of the reasons why I turned down the Joshua fight. They promised me that I’d face Dominic Breazeale in a final eliminator and then Deontay Wilder with no intervening bouts, then all of a sudden Breazeale is fighting Wilder.
"I’ve had no response from them about my mandatory position, but It is what it is. This is heavyweight boxing, it’s always been like this, and it’s not going to change anytime soon.”
Whyte has been ranked at No. 1 with the WBC for over 600 days and Deontay Wilder — the man who holds the coveted green-and-gold belt — recently defeated his WBC imposed mandatory challenger Dominic Breazeale on May 18. Wilder also has a rematch against Luis Ortiz scheduled for Sept. 28, not to mention the highly anticipated rematch against Tyson Fury which is pencilled in for Feb. 22, 2020. So going down the WBO route, Whyte still has to wait for his turn.
Joshua lost the WBA, WBO, IBO and IBF titles to in a monumental upset to Andy Ruiz Jr in June, and their contractual agreed rematch is yet to be announced, and Oleksandr Usyk has been installed as the mandatory challenger due to him being the 'Super' champion at cruiserweight.
Through all that, Whyte his suspicions surrounding the situation. He also questioned the legitimacy of Dominic Breazeale’s mandatory status and wasn't afraid to do so.
“I think the WBC is protecting Wilder," Whyte said. "I don’t know what it is. Maybe he’s the first reigning American champion in a long time or whatever. The Breazeale vs. Molina fight isn’t even eligible because Molina was banned from all sport globally for two years, and the WBC run their own 'Clean-Boxing Program’ so I don’t know how they can make someone like that compete.”
MORE: Who is Dillian Whyte?
Myriad of reports were surrounding the reserved April 13 date at Wembley Stadium, with some stating that Whyte turned down the opportunity to face Joshua in a rematch because of money. According to Whyte, that's not why the bout didn't get made.
“We should have been fighting at Wembley Stadium on April 13,” Whyte said. “We tried to make the fight last year back in September, but they came to me in January this year after I had fought Dereck Chisora in December and I was resting. The negotiations between Joshua and me were never serious. They had a guaranteed date, and we tried to make it six months before the fight was meant to happen, but I knew Joshua was going to fight Jarrell Miller, as that was their plan all along.
"They made some offers to cover their tracks, but it’s all nonsense. Any talk about, 'Oh, we offered Dillian the fight, but he didn’t want it’ is all nonsense. If Joshua wanted the fight, then the fight would happen."
With these world title let-downs, one could argue that Whyte should sit back and relax after an action-packed 2018, in which he downed Lucas Browne with the "Sporting News 2018 KO of the Year," a unanimous decision victory over Joseph Parker and an 11th-round KO victory over Dereck Chisora. Sitting around isn't in the plans.
“I want to entertain the fans," Whyte explained. "What’s the point in sitting around waiting or facing an easy opponent that I’d knock out in one round? I want to stay busy and stay active — everyone I’ve fought has either been hurt or knocked out — I tried to chase those fights. There’s only a handful of fights out there for me, but none of those guys wanted to fight me, so we looked for the next-best opponent."
Whyte shares nothing but praise for his upcoming, undefeated opponent, but cautions that while this might be new territory for Rivas, this is another day in the life for the Brit.
“He’s the best of the lot, he was a tough amateur, went to the Olympics, won a few titles and has beaten a lot of top fighters," Whyte said. "He’s tough, a good puncher and pressure fighter who’s also quite intelligent and highly ranked.
"This, for him, is his world title, or whatever. For him, it’s a big thing. He thinks everyone is overlooking him and he’s going to prove this and he’s going to prove that. I do that every fight. This isn’t a fight that I’m going to change my mindset for. This has been like this my whole career."