The WBC has ordered Tyson Fury to defend his heavyweight title against challenger Dillian Whyte or face sanctions including being stripped of the title. Whyte has been the WBC heavyweight division #1 ranked contender for over 1,000 days without a title shot.
While some may view this as heavy handed tactics by the WBC, Tyson Fury certainly wasn’t one of them. Infact, he seemed to welcome the challenge after he wrapped up his trilogy with Deontay Wilder earlier this year. Fury stated “I’m due an easy fight anyway, [Whyte] would have been ideal really…Heavy bag on legs is what I’m after to be honest. He’d have been the ideal candidate…When they make him a mandatory challenger, I will defend my belt and butcher him, no problem.”
Fight insiders are currently speculating that the bout could be scheduled in late February or early March somewhere in the UK. Fury, who hails from Manchester himself, hasn’t fought in the UK since 2018 and would likely see a massive gate and PPV buys were the bout to take place on his home soil.
Fury is currently 31-0-1 in his professional career. The Gypsy King has represented England numerous times on the international stage, capturing a pair of gold medals at the English National Championships and EU Junior Championships in 2008 and 2007 respectively. The 6’9” fighter is widely regarded as the best heavyweight of his generation.
Whyte, who fights out of Brixton, England will be giving up 5 inches to the reigning champion when the two meet in the ring, but is no stranger to high profile fights. He is currently 28-2, whose only blemishes came at the hands of Anthony Joshua and Alexander Povetkin, the latter of which he knocked out in their rematch in March this year.
Behind the scenes there have been rumours that Anthony Joshua could be paid out a substantial sum of money to relinquish his rematch clause with Usyk so that Fury could challenge him for the undisputed heavyweight title. However with the recent order from the WBC it would be likely that Fury would then relinquish that belt in the process, nullifying the “unified” status.
Should the fight with Whyte go ahead as scheduled, many are speculating that the O2 arena could be a potential venue, though no locations have been confirmed at this point.