Scroll back to July 20th 2019, Dillian Whyte and Oscar Rivas went 12 rounds at the 02 Arena, taking Whyte to 27-1 and unbeaten since 2015. The future looked bright, an elusive shot at Deontay Wilder’s crown seemed that bit closer!. Days later, the boxing community wakes to news that UKAD had found adverse findings in one of Dillian’s samples.
Now I could harp on about the ins and outs, talk views from within the boxing world, scream about B samples and so on. But why waste breath! That fat has been chewed, a man’s credibility has been tarnished, a career set back, and more importantly for us, the supporters, the chance to see Whyte throw hands again delayed.
Now fast forward nearly 5 months to December 7th, Saudi Arabia, Ruiz v AJ, ‘Clash On The Dunes’. UKAD have given the all clear, Eddie Hearn announces Dillian will fight Mariuz Wach.
For me I think great, what a great undercard fight to get us in the spirit for AJ. What do we get? A clearly out of shape Dillian, struggling through 10 rounds to take a decision over Wach, 3 fights prior to the main event. To the casual, it wasn’t great and looked awful, to the week in week out viewer, its clear, there was a fight on offer, Whyte needed to step up and had a point to prove. A great show of character from Whyte, another win and an important step closer.
Now 2020 is upon us, the fight talk is brewing! AJ’s train is back on track, seemingly on its way to pass through Pulev or Usyk depending which way the politics divert it. Domestic rivalries continue, the earth is round and so on and so on.
So more importantly, where does Whyte fit in? Where does he go next? Any shot at the WBC strap seems to be a million miles away with Wilder/Fury looking like a trilogy in the making.
Talksport kindly threw 3 names into the mix, 3 interesting fighters for all different reasons – Andy Ruiz, Alexander Povetkin and Otto Wallin.
Andy Ruiz – 33 & 2 with his last fight coming in the form of defeat to Anthony Joshua and losing his world titles, is surely pushing for a Joshua rematch.
Alexander Povetkin – 40 years old, still going and his own hoard of closet skeletons chasing him! Stopped short by AJ, drawing with Hunter and looking tired in doing so. Would this be a final payday?
Otto Wallin – A 6’5 20-1 pro that took Tyson Fury the distance, in a fight the he was expected to be blown away.
After running a twitter poll on the subject, very few said Povetkin, many said Ruiz, but majority went Wallin and to be fair I can see why.
For me, would Ruiz come to the UK to fight a dangerous fight in Whyte, and lose any chance of boarding the AJ train again. Not in a million years!
Do we as fans, want to pay our hard earned money to see the Povetkin fight? A multiple time steroid cheat? Not me! And i’m not the only one, take 5 minutes and listen to the professionals.
Wallin, is a perfect start to 2020. Both fighters with seemingly similar records, one very well known here in the UK, that has fought the likes of AJ and Chisora, sold out the O2 and headlined PPV events. The other a relativity unknown, that has only fought in Europe with only one familiar name on his CV, Tyson Fury.
On paper, Whyte would breeze through Wallin. In reality, you never know, as June 2019 in MSG has shown us. For Wallin, its a no-brainer, take the payday, fight the legitimate challenger to Wilder’s title with the opportunity to take a major scalp. Lose and its only a second loss on the record, and not a loss to be sneezed at next to Fury.
Either way, I’m sure we’ll find out in due course and no matter who, everyone will have an opinion. But mark April in your calendar as word on the street is that’s when we will see Whyte again.
By Ben John for SimBoxx🥊
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