DILLIAN’S WALK ON THE WILDER SIDE
Londoner lined up for £6m title fight
AND SO the Wilder goose chase begins again, except this time the expedition is led not by Anthony Joshua, but a stocky brawler from Brixton.
For bait, Dillian Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn will use the promise of a £6million payday to draw Deontay Wilder into what would not only be an intriguing winter bout but also one that seemed impossible with 30 seconds remaining against New Zealander Joseph Parker at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday.
At that stage, with Whyte dropped hard in the 12th by a Parker right hand, his career as an elite entity appeared over. But in getting to his feet and surviving to take the unanimous decision, the 30- year- old Londoner has unlocked the door to the kind of mega-money fights that, among other British boxers, only Joshua has regular access.
The most lucrative of those fights would be against Joshua himself, of course, but the soonest they could stage that grudge rematch is April 13, at Wembley — a slot which Joshua would prefer to fill with his own fight against Wilder.
A more immediate option for Whyte, and one evidently favoured by Hearn, is to challenge Wilder for the WBC world title in November or December, most likely in America.
That would depend on another tricky bout of negotiations with the Wilder team after long, fruitless talks to make a unification clash between Joshua and the American. Those discussions followed efforts earlier in the year to broker a fight between Whyte and Wilder, which also failed. But the heavyweight landscape could be different this time, as Wilder will have seen Whyte dropped by Parker, the former WBO champion who is not known for explosive power. Wilder might just fancy his chances of making some easy money and with that thought in mind, Hearn will start talks this week to tempt him.
‘I would like Dillian Whyte to fight Wilder,’ he said. ‘Wilder hasn’t got an opponent for November, and Dillian will fight in November or December.
‘Wilder seems to be worried about coming to the UK so we will do it in Brooklyn. It will make fortunes for them. They are painful people to deal with. But why wouldn’t he fight Dillian Whyte? He must look at that last round and think, “Yeah”. Without that last round he probably thinks, “He’s a handful” but that last round… Wilder is a huge puncher so he will think it’s an easy fight.’
Hearn explained what had been offered to Wilder previously: ‘We offered them $3m plus US TV, then $4m plus US TV, so that’s $5m. I’d probably go up to $7m or $8m for Deontay Wilder to fight Dillian Whyte now.’
Another option for Whyte is Dereck Chisora, who almost stole the show on Saturday with a remarkable eighth-round stoppage of Carlos Takam. For some context, it took Joshua 10 rounds to stop Takam last October.
Chisora, 34, had lost three of his previous six fights, and in this fight was down on the judges’ cards after seven rounds. Then he twice dropped Takam with heavy right hands for arguably the most impressive win of his career.
Having lost a split- decision thriller to Whyte in December 2016, a rematch this winter would be popular if Whyte is unable to strike it rich with Joshua or Wilder.