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Steve KimESPN
A rematch of one of the better heavyweight battles of recent years takes place between Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora at the O2 Arena in London, England on Saturday. For all the talk of how the recent bout between WBC champion Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury — which ended in a highly disputed draw on December 1 in Los Angeles — was so memorable, the overall, sustained action it provided, paled in comparison to the first go around between these two British big men.
When they met back on December 12, 2015, they tore into one another for 12 heated rounds with an intensity that is uncommon for modern day heavyweights. Coming into the fight, the animosity between the two rivals was palpable and it fueled an unforgettable night of violence and mayhem.
At the end of 36 minutes of physical brutality, it was Whyte edging Chisora by the slimmest of margins at 115-113 114-115 and 115-114. The fight was truly that close and competitive.
Since that point in time, Whyte, 30, has reeled off four victories over the likes of Malcolm Tann (TKO3), Robert Helenius (W12), Lucas Browne (KO6) and most recently on July 28 he outpointed former WBO heavyweight titlist, Joseph Parker over 12 rounds. The 34 year old Chisora (29-8, 21 KOs), in the same stretch has won three out of four, he had a hiccup versus Agit Kabayel (L12), but has rebounded with two stoppage victories, most recently on the same card as Whyte-Parker, where he halted the usually sturdy Carlos Takam in eight rounds.
Now, they meet again and the stakes are certainly higher — at least for Whyte. Chisora, who isn’t quite an elite heavyweight and certainly more than a mere journeyman, is fighting to stay relevant and to stay in the mix for future paydays. For Whyte, another crack at unified champion Anthony Joshua could be next, should he come out victorious this weekend.
Back in December of 2015, as Joshua was 14 fights into his pro career, he scored a seventh round stoppage of his amateur rival. Whyte momentarily buzzed Joshua in this contest but much of this bout was controlled by the 2012 Olympic gold medalist, who in his next outing captured his first major world title by halting Charles Martin in two rounds for the IBF belt.
While Whyte (24-1, 17 KOs), says he is only focusing in on his upcoming bout, our own Nick Parkinson said that, “the media [in the U.K.] expect Joshua to fight the Whyte-Chisora winner in April, then Miller in the U.S. later in 2019.”
Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sports (which is promoting this event and handles both Joshua and Whyte) when asked about the possibility of this rematch, said on Tuesday that anything can happen at the moment in the heavyweight division.
“I mean, before the Fury-Wilder fight, we said, ‘We’re going to fight Whyte or we can fight Deontay Wilder’ because we knew that Fury had a rematch clause,” said Hearn. “So if [Fury] won, then we couldn’t fight [Wilder] anyway. And we didn’t think there was going to be a draw, so we didn’t think the rematch would happen if Wilder won or if it was a draw, which obviously makes the rematch a decent sized fight.”
So with that result, Hearn states that everybody is a candidate.
“Wilder is available, Fury is available, the winner of Saturday is going to be available. We talk about Dillian Whyte, but we should throw Chisora in the mix.”
There is now chatter of Joshua, who holds the WBA, IBF and WBO titles, facing Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller this upcoming summer at Madison Square Garden in New York. A source on the Miler side told ESPN.com via text message: “We want to, but no serious discussions have taken place, yet. Jarrell is going to England Wednesday-Sunday.”
Hearn says that some have jumped to conclusions based on his comments last week that mentioned the native of Brooklyn as a possibility for his cash cow. Miller is certainly in the mix for Joshua at some juncture, he just may not be next in line. “That fight would be the fight for a U.S. debut, outside of Wilder,” Hearn clarified.
So, back to Joshua-Whyte.
While not a bad matchup, a rematch between Joshua and Whyte certainly isn’t one the public, both in England and across the pond, are yearning for, but it would certainly be an entertaining fight.