Dillian Whyte has vacated his British heavyweight title, the Brixton man was due to face Sam Sexton for the Lonsdale belt after British Boxing Board of Control ordered the fight.
However, Whyte wanted to move away from the domestic scene.
Following his controversial points win over Dereck Chisora in December in one of the fights of the year, Dillian Whyte saw his ranking with the WBC improve and is now trying to position himself to get a shot at the WBC champ Deontay Wilder.
After facing Dereck Chisora, facing Sam Sexton wouldn’t be progression and a rematch with Chisora seems to be on the back burner for now as he pushes for a world title fight.
“Sam Sexton, fighting him doesn’t make sense, ranking wise, or business sense. For me, fighting Chisora then Sam Sexton is a backward step. Chisora has knocked him out twice. He doesn’t really do anything for my career.
“Eddie has promised me some top-10 fights this year, which will push me to a world title, hopefully leading to a world title fight at the end of this year. It was a no-brainer, to be honest.”
While the Chisora fight remains a possibility, its need to business sense. Whyte is chasing fighters like Gerald Washington, Bermane Stiverne, Deontay Wilder, that is the direction he wants to head in.
The 28-year-old said: “I’ll fight Dereck Chisora any day of the week, but it has to make financial sense, because I beat him already, I got the ranking points. I’m ranked higher than him across the board in the world rankings now.
“I’ve got no problem fighting Dereck again, but I’ve got to think about my career and moving forward to challenge for a world title. My dream is to become world champion, not to stay at British level and keep fighting these guys, unless it makes financial sense or ranking sense. I’ll definitely knock Dereck Chisora out this time, 100 per cent.
Dillian Whye’s promoter Eddie Hearn feels that Deontay Wilder needs to up his game, in terms of the opponents he has been facing. Wilder crushed fellow American Chris Arreola within eight rounds in July last year and ‘The Bronze Bomber’ returns to action against Poland’s Andrzej Wawrzyk in his home state of Alabama next month.
Hearn would like see Wilder, as WBC champion fight a higher calibre of fighters and feels his man Dillian Whyte would be a great match-up.
“I want to see Dillian Whyte against Deontay Wilder,” he said.
“Wilder is coming back with this fight in February against the Polish gentleman, which is just a keep-busy fight for him, so what about Dillian Whyte in May?
“Klitschko and Joshua are fighting [at Wembley Stadium on April 29] and maybe the winner of those two fights meet.