The lowdown on Dillian Whyte’s heavyweight clash with Otto Wallin at Greenwich’s 02 Arena

Brixton heavyweight Dillian Whyte is set to box Otto Wallin at Greenwich’s 02 Arena on October 30 as he defends his WBC Interim world title. Here RICHARD CAWLEY gives us the lowdown on the bout.

THE OPPONENT
Social media can be pretty critical of some of Matchroom Boxing’s match-ups but there were not many dissenting voices when Wallin was announced as Whyte’s opponent. The Swede has won 22 fights with his only reverse coming at the hands of Tyson Fury in 2019. He was a huge underdog going into that bout but Fury had to tough it out and win on a unanimous decision in Las Vegas – a punch causing a horrific cut over his right eye in the fourth round. Wallin’s reputation was enhanced in defeat and he has since picked up victories over two Americans, Travis Kaufmann and Dominic Breazeale.
Other mooted opponents for Whyte had included Chris Arreola and Jermaine Franklin, who had claimed a couple of weeks ago to have signed a contract. In the end it is Wallin, in negotiations to face Luis Ortiz, who gets the shot.

EXPECTED OUTCOME
Whyte goes into this one as a clear favourite and will be intent on making Wallin the 20th stoppage of his career in the paid ranks – improving on Fury’s result. Matchroom Boxing boss Eddie Hearn had previously talked about the South Londoner having a slightly easier test after a demanding run that has seen Whyte twice box Alexander Povetkin as well as the likes of Oscar Rivas, Derek Chisora and Joseph Parker.
But that’s not to say an upset can’t happen. Povetkin produced a chilling uppercut to knock out Whyte in the fourth round in their first meeting and ‘The Bodysnatcher’ has also been floored by Rivas, Parker and Joshua.

BIDING HIS TIME
Whyte had long wanted a shot at Deontay Wilder before the American KO specialist emphatically lost his WBC world title to Tyson Fury, but despite being the longstanding mandatory challenger he is still waiting for a crack at one of the major champions. That situation seems unlikely to change in 2022, if Fury produces a repeat outcome then he is likely to proceed with a unification showdown against Anthony Joshua. Ditto if Wilder prevails. It’s only if that match-up cannot be made that the WBC should order the winner of Fury-Wilder to face their mandatory challenger at some point next year.
“I can’t say how I really feel [about the WBC] because I’m still Interim champion, trying to get a world title and still in their rankings,” said Whyte. “My team is fighting hard every day. My résumé is better than any other WBC champion’s résumé. What can I do?”
If Whyte does need to stay busy – and earning a decent sum – then Ruiz Jr is an attractive option. Joe Joyce is ranked third by the WBC but the fact the European champion recently extended his contract with Queensberry Promotions makes that a trickier one to negotiate.

MOTIVATION IS KEY
Whyte came in at a career-heaviest 270-pounds in a comfortable but listless points verdict over Mariusz Wach in December 2019 on the undercard of Joshua’s rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr. If he doesn’t go into this one fit and focused then southpaw Wallin has the tools to make it a more difficult night’s work.
It will be down to Harold Knight, a former co-trainer for Lennox Lewis, and Xavier Miller to get their man into tip-top shape.

02 ARENA RETURN
Greenwich’s 02 Arena is familiar territory for Whyte, he has fought there seven times on the way to becoming one of English boxing’s biggest draws – the only loss coming at the hands of Joshua, in what was a clash of two prospects in late 2015. He has boxed 164 rounds in his professional career, with 37 of those at the 02 Arena. One change is that the Wallin fight will be shown on DAZN, Whyte’s previous platform had been Sky Sports – more often than not on pay-per-view events.

WALLIN’S CONFIDENT
“I’m going to show up in great shape and put on a clinic,” the Swedish challenger told Boxing Social. “I’m going to show that Dillian Whyte has a lot of holes in his game, and I’m a smart fighter. Everybody was laughing at me before that fight [against Fury]. After, they knew I was the real deal. I had a couple of good fights after, and now I’m ready for a big fight.They’re going to see what I was doing in the Fury fight wasn’t a fluke.”

PICTURES: MATCHROOM BOXING & PA