The World Boxing Council’s number one contender, interim champion, and mandatory challenger branded Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury as ‘cowards.’
Dillian Whyte, who has occupied the WBC rankings for the last five years, worked to the top before winning the secondary title in 2019.
Since then, Whyte has consistently pushed for his shot at the title, only to be informed it won’t come until 2021.
In the past, ‘The Body Snatcher’ has questioned WBC’s policy of allowing the most significant fights to happen while airing his grievances publicly to President Mauricio Sulaiman.
Whyte has been assured that his chance will come. But still had to go through Joseph Parker, Oscar Rivas, and, following up, Alexander Povetkin to stay in contention.
Due to the coronavirus, the Londoner faces an even longer wait. That February 2021 date will almost certainly be pushed back.
Coupled with the fact that the WBC recently stated they would allow champion Fury to defend against Wilder and then Anthony Joshua.
Speculation Fury would be made ‘Franchise Champion’ was dampened by the WBC last week.
Dillian Whyte
“WBC franchise is not a belt. It is a designation. If Fury stays undefeated until then, he would be putting his WBC World Champion Belt on the line (vs Joshua),” they confirmed.
This means Whyte will likely be pushed to one side until the first Fury vs Joshua fight is out of the way. That could be the end of 2021 at the earliest.
Downhearted by what he sees as playing second fiddle due to his reputation not being as high, Whyte spoke to ‘The AK and Barak Show’ on Sirius XM to discuss.
“I’ve been discouraged because I never had any big amateur career. I never had any big promoters. I didn’t win any Olympic gold medal (like Joshua),” said Whyte.
“I’ve been written off since the day I turned professional. So I am a fighter by spirit. By way of nature. So all I know is to keep fighting. No matter how hard it gets, I keep fighting.”
TYSON FURY & DEONTAY WILDER
On Fury and Deontay Wilder, he added: “It’s very discouraging. It’s very disheartening when one coward has the belt. He then passes it to another coward who doesn’t wanna fight me.
“Again, it’s all just crazy. I don’t know what the WBC’s beef is. I’ve done everything (they asked of me). I fought more top-ten contenders than Wilder and Fury put together. It’s crazy!”
Having canceled the scheduled fight with Povetkin, Whyte is now waiting to see whether a lesser name will be brought in for a fight at promoter Eddie Hearn’s Essex mansion.
Hearn is organizing a series of backyard barbeque events to keep some of his stable busy. Whether Whyte vs Povetkin will headline, one of these shows is yet to be confirmed.
Dates in July are set aside for Matchroom’s return.
