Heavyweight contender Dillian Whyte has withdrawn from a fight against Otto Wallin due to a should injury. It is unclear how severe Whyte’s injury is or how long he will be away from the ring. When he does return, ESPN suggests that he may not try to reschedule his fight against Wallin. As the number one contender in the heavyweight division, Whyte may position himself for his long-awaited shot at the WBC Heavyweight title. Current WBC Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury has already indicated that he’d like to fight Whyte.
“We’re gonna deliver a UK fight. It’s been a long time since I boxed here. Who better than this guy who keeps calling for it? I’ll shut that bum right up, that’ll be an easy one. That’s definitely gonna happen, I’m gonna splatter him,” Fury told BBC Sport about the potential of fighting Whyte.
While Whyte and Fury may be slowly building anticipation for a fight, Wallin and his promoter, Dmitry Salita, are not amused.
“We believe the WBC will make the right decision instead of giving Dillian Whyte a straight ahead journey to Tyson Fury,” Salita told ESPN.
“Dillian Whyte should not be rewarded with a fight with Tyson Fury based on having an injury, legitimate or not.”
Wallin’s camp has questioned Whyte’s claim that he sustained the injury while training three weeks ago, but pushed forward anyway because he was interested in a sizeable payday and didn’t want to endure another long layoff.
“What makes [the injury] a bit suspicious is that there’s been rumors for weeks about Dillian Whyte pulling out of the fight, and he even said ‘I could pull out of the fight and fight Tyson Fury next, but I’m not going to because I’m a man,'” Salita told ESPN.
“This week is just to stay sharp, shadow box, hit the bags a little bit, and be ready for fight week. So that he gets injured in such a way doesn’t seem to be in line with traditional boxing practices. Even if he is legitimately injured – it’s a possibility — the fight should be rescheduled at a later date,” Wallin added.
