Tyson Fury also known as the ‘Gypsy King’ will make his second title defence in a sold-out Wembley Arena against the hungry rugged, bull-like Dillian Whyte. But Dillian Whyte’s journey for his WBC title shot has definitely not been effortless.
WBC Mandatory Opportunity
The WBC President Mauricio Suleiman broke down the news weeks before the matchup, insisting that if Dillian Whyte won the fight, he would be mandated to fight for the WBC world title in February 2021. And up until that point, Whyte had been waiting over 1000 days to get his world title shot. This news to team Whyte must have been a breath of fresh air. But that night, the dangerous Russian took the opportunity away from him.
All the way in Essex, at Matchroom square garden, promoter Eddie Hearn arranged a thrilling undercard with Alen Babic taking the lead, obliterating Shawn winters in 2 rounds. The main event couldn’t come with better suspense. The series of fight nights throughout the summer of 2020 also known as fight camp ended on the 22nd of August with the main event being Whyte versus Povetkin for the WBC interim and WBC diamond world championship.
Dillian Whyte started off strong, and it seem to be an easy night’s work as he knocked down the Russian in round four on two occasions. As it approached round five, it was no secret that Whyte was comfortably winning the fight. Pundits were suggesting that they even pull Povetkin out of the fight. But the fight took a turn. On spur of moment, in round five, Povetkin feinted a jab and set up a peach of a Mike Tyson-Esque uppercut that landed flush on the chin on Whyte. The dream of becoming a world champion seemed to be slender.
Except for the fact that Dillian Whyte had a rematch clause. He immediately activated and avenged his loss 7 months later. This should have put him right back in the mix in attaining his title shot. But painfully, this was not the case. Despite that, with Whyte’s legal case against the WBC in the background, he had no intention to not stay active and wait for his shot.
On October 30th 2021, Dillian Whyte was scheduled to face the awkward Southpaw Otto Wallin. But due to Whyte’s injury, the fight was unable to facilitate. On the 7th December 2021, the WBC officially ordered Dillian Whyte to face the undefeated Tyson Fury.
We’re now exactly four days away from the long-awaited WBC mandatory title shot that Dillian Whyte has deservedly earned. On the 23rd of April, there is nowhere else to be than to witness a huge British heavyweight blockbuster. Besides Tyson Fury being the heavy favourite, stylistically, Dillian Whyte could cause the 6ft9 giant huge problems, with his relentless body shots. Whyte also known as the bodysnatcher, would by no doubt and probably by a landslide, be the best body puncher in the heavyweight division.
The Bodysnatcher has had to work his way up the hard way. Post his first professional loss against his rival Anthony Joshua, he made drastic changes in his team, which equipped him to become the force to be reckoned with that he is today. Changing his head trainer and linking up with Mark Tibbs. Associating with Loughborough University for his training and conditioning. Including changes to his diet that lead him to 9 straight victories against top-level operators.
Ian Lewison for the British title, Robert Helenius for the WBC Silver, British dust-up against the brutal Dereck Chisora. Two Former World Champions Lucas Browne and Joseph Parker. Highly rated and undefeated at the time Columbian Oscar Rivas, beat Andy Ruiz as an amateur and also triumphed over Kubrat Pulev in the Olympics.
Dillian Whyte’s impressive resume speaks for itself. There is no argument why Ring Magazine ranked him as number 5 in the heavyweight division. There is the saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” irrespective of this Dillian Whyte broke this rule by changing his strength and conditioning coach and surprisingly splitting with his head coach Mark Tibbs post his 9 consecutive wins streak. Whether this had an impact on his loss against Povetkin, only Dillian Whyte will know. But all that matters is he evened the score knocking out the Russian the second time around.
Dillian Whyte has been working with current head coach Xavier Miller since July 2019 on his bout against Oscar Rivas. While Mark Tibbs was still the head coach at the time, Dillian Whyte worked closely with Xavier who also is the co-founder of Boxing IQ. Post his win against Marius Wach in December 2019, Whyte’s camp moved over to Portugal linking up with the highly-rated trainer Xavier Miller who is heavily known as the ‘Professor’ due to his vast amount of knowledge in the boxing field.
In preparation for Whyte’s rematch against Povetkin, Whyte’s camp added Harold ‘the Shadow’ Knight as a co-trainer. This seemed to be a well thought out decision, as Harold has been successful as a co-trainer for former undisputed champion Lennox Lewis up until Lennox’s retirement.
Under those circumstances, can Team Whyte cause a major upset on the 23rd of April 2022? We will have to wait and see.
How to watch
Embed from Getty Images This bout will be shown on 23rd April at Wembley, live on pay-per-view on BT Sports Box office. To witness this heavyweight showdown the event can be purchased for £24.95. The main event will most likely begin from 9:30 pm onwards. If you’re a BT TV Customer you can use the remote control to buy the event. And the main event can also be bought if you’re a sky customer on channel 490. For more information on streaming this event please click here.