With Whyte loss, WBC confirms nothing in the way of Fury-Joshua
Whyte still just might have a chance to get back in mandatory challenger position.
Dillian Whyte’s loss this past weekend has conveniently removed a major hurdle for what would be an undisputed heavyweight title unification between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. Whyte, who had been due a mandatory shot at Fury’s title by February 2021, is no longer in line for that fight. And while Whyte had previously suggested that Fury would drop the WBC title in order to not have to face him, that’s no longer an obstacle.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman tells Sky Sports that with Whyte’s knockout loss, there are no schedule obligations that Fury has to meet before unifying with Joshua.
“We don’t speculate, but the time limitations which were put by the WBC board, which had Dillian Whyte won, the winner of the third Fury-Wilder fight has to fight without an intervening bout against Dillian Whyte. That now has changed. Dillian has lost, so there are no limitations at the moment for the winner of Fury-Wilder to do any fight whatsoever.”
As for Alexander Povetkin, who beat Whyte and took the WBC’s ‘diamond’ title as well as their interim title, well, the sanctioning body says his opportunity to contend for the world title has yet to be determined, but it won’t be on the same timetable Whyte was promised.
So in the meanwhile Whyte will have an opportunity to rematch Povetkin, which could put Whyte back in the mandatory challenger position should he win, but there’s no way around how big of a setback this was for Whyte’s WBC world title aspirations.