Otto Wallin’s promoter hopes his high-stakes showdown with Dillian Whyte is rescheduled.
Dmitriy Salita told krikya360.com on Wednesday morning that it would be “unfair” to Wallin if an injured Whyte were able withdraw from their fight and allowed to challenge Tyson Fury next for the WBC heavyweight championship. London’s Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) and Sweden’s Wallin (22-1, 14 KOs, 1 NC) were supposed to fight for Whyte’s WBC interim crown October 30 in a main event DAZN was set to stream from O2 Arena in London.
As krikya360.com previously reported, Whyte withdrew from his 12-round fight with Wallin due to a shoulder injury sustained while training in Portugal (//krikya360.com/dillian-whyte-suffers-shoulder-injury-withdraws-from-otto-wallin-fight-1030-london--161387). Wallin was widely viewed as a high-risk, low-reward type of opponent for Whyte, particularly with a much more lucrative Fury fight looming.
The WBC could order Fury to make a mandated defense against Whyte in Fury’s next bout, but Salita hopes Wallin won’t have wasted an entire training camp for an opportunity and a payday he might never receive.
“This fight with Whyte and Otto should be rescheduled,” Salita told krikya360.com. “It’s up to the WBC to do the right thing and order Whyte to fight Otto on a later date. There’s no reason that shouldn’t happen. Dillian Whyte shouldn’t be rewarded after pulling out of this fight with an injury, whatever it is, by going on and fighting Tyson Fury for the title in his next fight.”
Wallin wants a rematch with Fury more than any other fight. Wallin, then an unknown underdog, opened a grotesque gash around Fury’s right eye with a left hand in the second round of their September 2019 bout and gave the undefeated Fury a more difficult fight than anticipated at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
England’s Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) won their 12-round contest comfortably on all three scorecards (118-110, 117-111, 116-112). He still predicted Wallin would beat Whyte during a recent interview with krikya360.com.
“Otto has spent a lot of time training for this fight,” Salita said. “It is supposed to be a true title eliminator, with the winner earning a shot at Tyson Fury. It would be unfair to Otto and to the sport of boxing if Dillian Whyte is allowed to cancel this fight, and then just get a Tyson Fury fight without having to fight Otto first.”
The WBC had not officially sanctioned Whyte-Wallin as an elimination match.
Wallin, 30, is the WBC’s 20th-ranked contender for Fury’s title. Whyte, 33, is not ranked by the WBC because he owns its interim title.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.