Dillian Whyte : "Im being frozen out of title picture"

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Heavyweight boxer Dillian Whyte is nicknamed "the Body Snatcher" but so far he's not had the chance to snatch a world title.

The 30-year-old is highly ranked with three of the sport's governing bodies and has had 26 professional fights - 25 of which he's won.

But Dillian, from south London, has yet to fight for a world title and he believes the World Boxing Council (WBC) has a role to play in this.

"I think they're just trying to freeze me out for as long as they can, hoping I'll get older and get demotivated," Dillian tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.

The WBC denies it's holding him back, saying it's openly following the rules.

Newsbeat has followed the boxer for the last eight months to see if he could secure the fight that could make him champion of the world.

We filmed him at his training camp at Loughborough University, saw him preparing for a big fight and met his friends and family for the documentary Dillian Whyte: Fighting To Be Champ.

Dillian is hard working and determined, but also very funny.

And while nothing will come between him and his training regime, he's always laughing and joking with those around him.

But one thing you realise is that he just wants the chance to compete for a heavyweight world title - something that's not happened yet.

Boxing is a mysterious business and it seems that being smart in the ring isn't enough.

"He's been royally stitched-up," says BBC Radio 5 Live boxing pundit Steve Bunce.

"If you wanna go back through history, you have to go back to about the late 50s or early 60s to find guys who were overlooked for as long as Dillian."

Steve believes the boxer is being ignored "because people know he can beat them".

Dillian Whyte is one of Britain's biggest names in boxing - behind the likes of Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.

2018 was an amazing year for the heavyweight and after beating Lucas Browne, Joseph Parker and Derek Chisora, it seemed a world title shot was inevitable.

So why is he still waiting?

One of the biggest fights boxing fans would like to see is an Anthony Joshua v Dillian Whyte rematch - they last fought in 2015 and Joshua won in the seventh round.

Joshua currently holds three heavyweight world titles - the WBO, the WBA and the IBF - and during our filming it looked like a rematch could be on the cards.

Wembley Stadium was booked for 13 April and negotiations were going back and forth between the two camps.

Joshua's team came to Dillian's with a few offers but he turned them down.

So why did he reject the opportunity he'd been working towards for so long?

Dillian says it's because he was offered "rubbish" money and he knows his "value".

"You can't offer [Tyson] Fury £15m and offer me £4m," he says.

"Fury's not three times the draw that I am. I know what value I bring. Of course I believe I can become world champion, anything could happen.

"Of course I believe I can beat him."

If Dillian had accepted, it certainly would've made his promoter Eddie Hearn's life easier.

"I really wanted him to fight AJ because he puts me under so much pressure to fight for the world title, that would have been me finally saying 'Leave me alone, right go!'" he tells Newsbeat.

"But he's playing the long game, he's backing himself, whereas others would have gone - where do I sign?"

The other route Dillian can follow to try to become a heavyweight world champion is to fight Deontay Wilder - who holds the WBC title.

Currently Dillian is the WBC's most highly-ranked boxer and holds its silver title - so you'd expect he'd be in with a chance of fighting Wilder.

But boxing is anything but straightforward.

In February, the WBC ordered Dillian to fight a US boxer called Dominic Breazeale in order to determine who'd be next to challenge Wilder for his world title.

This was controversial, given Dillian was already above Breazeale in the rankings.

However, in March, the WBC scrapped this match and instead said Breazeale could fight Wilder for the title in May.

"The WBC is a joke," says Dillian. "Boxing is a funny sport, it makes no sense. These things only happen in boxing.

"It wouldn't happen in the business world, it wouldn't happen in normal life or in any other sport apart from boxing.

"It's just boxing and you get on with it."

So how can the WBC do this?
The WBC says Breazeale signed a contract which meant if he won a fight against Eric Molina in 2017 - which he did - he would become the "mandatory contender".

This means he gets the automatic right to challenge Wilder for the WBC title.

"These are not decisions that are made behind closed doors," WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman tells Newsbeat.

"These are not decisions that are made against the rules."

The WBC says it's given Dillian the platform to become a celebrity name but accepts some fans might think it's unfair that he's not yet had a world title fight.

"When you're following a fighter, you want him to get the opportunity and get the chance. We're working towards that," says Mr Sulaiman.

"I believe I'll be world champion one way or another," says Dillian.

Despite the setbacks, the boxer is as motivated as ever and looks set to fight in London on 13 July - although it won't be for a world title.

"They can't run forever and when I get my shot, whichever it is, I'm gonna take years of frustration and anger and stress out on them.

"So they might as well just give me the world title before the fight even happens."

While i understand the sentiment, why didnt Whyte just take the April fight with Joshua, and then hold all the marbles in the world to ask for what he wanted?

I reallt like Whyte as a fighter, and find him amusing as a person, and i think he has a shot at beating Wilder and Joshua, but he wouldnt be a favourite in the slightest.

Too many fighters these days think they can dictate before they are the main man in the division, beat the main guy..and then YOU are the guy, then you can name your fucking price!!!
 
I’ll do anything to fight for the title. Here’s $4m quid/ euros/ whatever.

That’s not enough.

Article is right, he is funny
 
75-25 would sound fair.

On a side note, if we get to a situation where A level HWs don't fight each other and B level fighters don't want to fight them, this may be the most utterly embarrassing era in HW history.
 
Hes just talking shit

He wanted retirement money to fight AJ because he already knew the outcome was a big KO loss

Hence why, with no belts or no one really wanting to fight him, he turns down the £5 million pound career high payday and a chance to win 4 belts and become the face of boxing with a mega money rematch

That is more than enough incentive for anyone to fight, yet he turns it down. If you believe in yourself and you will win, you dont turn that opportunity down to then fight for no belts, no big rematch, and way less money

Just common sense

Whyte talks a good game but dont be fooled
 
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While i understand the sentiment, why didnt Whyte just take the April fight with Joshua, and then hold all the marbles in the world to ask for what he wanted?

I reallt like Whyte as a fighter, and find him amusing as a person, and i think he has a shot at beating Wilder and Joshua, but he wouldnt be a favourite in the slightest.

Too many fighters these days think they can dictate before they are the main man in the division, beat the main guy..and then YOU are the guy, then you can name your fucking price!!!
That's exactly what I said when he turned down £4 million against AJ. He was most upset that they'd offered Tyson Fury the same fight for £14, saying that HE (meaning Tyson) was not a bigger draw than him, which is clearly BS as Tyson is much more well known than Dillian. The guy (and I like him) is delusional. They (BBC) just did a 8 month filming with him and in one of the clips Dillian admits that he's not taking fights for lower money if they are high risk. So basically he's admitting that he thinks the AJ fight is a high risk and he's not willing to take it for less money than he deems right. C'mon Dillian, keep it real! Admit that you turned down a shot at the World Title you so desperately crave because you thought £4 million (more than he's ever earned) was not enough for losing. As you say if he beat AJ then he could write the cheques for as much as he wants!

BUT I do think he has been shafted by the WBC who let Breazeale go first against Wilder even though Dillian was ranked above him. That's just some straight up bullshit. But the WBC are known for being corrupt as fuck.
 
Hes just talking shit

He wanted retirement money to fight AJ because he already knew the outcome was a big KO loss

Hence why, with no belts or no one really wanting to fight him, he turns down the £5 million pound career high payday and a chance to win 4 belts and become the face of boxing with a mega money rematch

That is more than enough incentive for anyone to fight, yet he turns it down. If you believe in yourself and you will win, you dont turn that opportunity down to fight for no belts, no big rematch, and way less money

Just common sense

Whyte talks a good game but dont be fooled

So he’s a Biaaatch...
 
75-25 would sound fair.

On a side note, if we get to a situation where A level HWs don't fight each other and B level fighters don't want to fight them, this may be the most utterly embarrassing era in HW history.

I really hope that doesn't happen. Just at the beginning of this year, the heavyweight scene was the most exciting it's been for many years with Fury, Wilder, AJ etc. all in the mix.

A few TV deals later and it looks like they may not get matched up with each other.

That's exactly what I said when he turned down £4 million against AJ. He was most upset that they'd offered Tyson Fury the same fight for £14, saying that HE (meaning Tyson) was not a bigger draw than him, which is clearly BS as Tyson is much more well known than Dillian. The guy (and I like him) is delusional. They (BBC) just did a 8 month filming with him and in one of the clips Dillian admits that he's not taking fights for lower money if they are high risk. So basically he's admitting that he thinks the AJ fight is a high risk and he's not willing to take it for less money than he deems right. C'mon Dillian, keep it real! Admit that you turned down a shot at the World Title you so desperately crave because you thought £4 million (more than he's ever earned) was not enough for losing. As you say if he beat AJ then he could write the cheques for as much as he wants!

BUT I do think he has been shafted by the WBC who let Breazeale go first against Wilder even though Dillian was ranked above him. That's just some straight up bullshit. But the WBC are known for being corrupt as fuck.

Sulaiman preempts the question of Breazeale having a shot before Whyte by saying it's because he beat Molina in 2017 in a matchup for the mandatory challenger. Mmmmm. Like you say, the WBC have always been dodgy and José Sulaimán had plenty of controversies.
 
Sulaiman preempts the question of Breazeale having a shot before Whyte by saying it's because he beat Molina in 2017 in a matchup for the mandatory challenger. Mmmmm. Like you say, the WBC have always been dodgy and José Sulaimán had plenty of controversies.
Yeah I buy that bullshit lol So a boxer who beats Molina gets a shot ahead of a boxer who beat Parker and Chisora? Yeah seems fair LOL
 
Is the mandatory defence 12 months or 24 months these days?

Insane that a fighter like Whyte can get frozen out by both Wilder and Joshua, yet Breazeale and Miller get a fucking shot
 
Is the mandatory defence 12 months or 24 months these days?

Insane that a fighter like Whyte can get frozen out by both Wilder and Joshua, yet Breazeale and Miller get a fucking shot
Whyte didn't get frozen out by AJ. He got offered the fight for £4 million but thought it was beneath him. Not the same as getting frozen out. Miller has agreed to $6.5 million to fight AJ which is £5 million. So the question is why does Whyte think he is worth so much more than Miller? Miller is gonna earn a chance to hold 3 belts for that £5 million. He seems to think the risk was worth it but apparently Whyte thinks he was worth more. LOL or perhaps Whyte didn't think that £4 million was worth losing to Joshua?
 
Whyte didn't get frozen out by AJ. He got offered the fight for £4 million but thought it was beneath him. Not the same as getting frozen out. Miller has agreed to $6.5 million to fight AJ which is £5 million. So the question is why does Whyte think he is worth so much more than Miller? Miller is gonna earn a chance to hold 3 belts for that £5 million. He seems to think the risk was worth it but apparently Whyte thinks he was worth more. LOL or perhaps Whyte didn't think that £4 million was worth losing to Joshua?

So Miller is a bigger draw and deserves to get paid more than Whyte? I would have thought that the Whyte rematch would have been the bigger fight.
 
Yeah I buy that bullshit lol So a boxer who beats Molina gets a shot ahead of a boxer who beat Parker and Chisora? Yeah seems fair LOL

I started writing reply about how the bullshit was really how Breazeale got a mandatory shot in the first place, but then I remembered a name. Al Haymon. He's the, "advisor", for both Breazeale and Wilder, so I see how.

In terms of who should be next it is bullshit, yes. I just had a look at the WBC's HW rankings and Whyte must be so pissed off.

Champ - Wilder
#1 - Whyte
#2 - Fury
#3 - Ortiz
#4 - Breazeale

The two boxers below him have had their shot and he has to wait as the one three places below gets his chance. Weird.
 
It's a shitter for whyte as he deserves a shot but he's done this to himself.
 
Whyte didn't get frozen out by AJ. He got offered the fight for £4 million but thought it was beneath him. Not the same as getting frozen out. Miller has agreed to $6.5 million to fight AJ which is £5 million. So the question is why does Whyte think he is worth so much more than Miller? Miller is gonna earn a chance to hold 3 belts for that £5 million. He seems to think the risk was worth it but apparently Whyte thinks he was worth more. LOL or perhaps Whyte didn't think that £4 million was worth losing to Joshua?
Because a fight with Whyte is a bigger sell than a fight with Miller, and because Whyte’s resume is significantly better than Miller.
 
At the end of the day, all these guys have made their bed now get to lay in it.

The reality is that in a couple short months there is going to be a standstill on the entire division until the lot of them can check their ego’s in order to get fights signed.
 
“I deserve a title shot”

“We agree. How about £ 4 000 000 for a title shot?”

“No way”

“OK.”




“Why am I not getting a title shot?”

WebbedShinyBittern-max-1mb.gif
 
"They wanted to pay me rubbish money in the first fight [and if] I beat him, they wanted the lion’s share of the rematch, which I didn't think wad right."

If that's true I don't think Hearn wanted the fight. Not because because of fear of losing or anything like that but it just seems like they wanted to fight in America against an American opponent and low balled Whyte to say they offered the fight but to insure it didn't happen.
 
75-25 would sound fair.

On a side note, if we get to a situation where A level HWs don't fight each other and B level fighters don't want to fight them, this may be the most utterly embarrassing era in HW history.
This “HW era” went from one of the most exciting eras to one of the lamest in a matter of months. The sport was on fire until these promoters shat on it.
 
You guys are right. He had his chance. If 4m isnt enough to get a shot at becoming world champ than keep fighting bums untill you're worth more. Eddie will always lowball you anyway even if you bodysnatch 20 more cans.
 
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