Dillian Whyte was one win away from a massive fight, which could have changed his fortunes in boxing. Whyte was the interim WBC Heavyweight champion and had a mandatory fight against Fury lined up. However, he faltered while defending that crown against Alexander Povetkin.

Frank Warren was criticized for his reaction to the Povetkin win. Eddie Hearn accused Warren of ‘gloating’. However, Warren has come out to address that.

“The reason I was so happy about him getting beat was because we got rid of that mandatory to enable those guys to get it on. I didn’t criticize him and say he faked a knockout or anything, he got beat and I was delighted because that took down an obstacle to get the fight all the fans want to see between Tyson Fury and AJ.

“It got rid of that obstacle, so why wouldn’t anybody in boxing be happy about that? What do you wanna see? Dillian Whyte in with Tyson Fury at Wembley, or do you want to see AJ and Tyson?”

Whyte will rematch Povetkin sometime soon. Their rematch was scheduled for 21 November, but Povetkin tested positive for COVID-19, scrapping the bout.

Dillian Whyte: One step away from playing party pooper

Everyone has wanted to see Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua butt heads. After Fury beat Wilder and Joshua reclaimed his title from Andy Ruiz Jr, it was obvious who the best heavyweights in the world were. While Fury vs Joshua is yet to be confirmed, everyone knows that it is the fight that boxing needs.

So how odd would it have been if Fury had to go through his mandatory challenger, Dillian Whyte, first? Well, there is no point in debating hypothetical situations, but it would be a massive inconvenience for Fury.

Whyte is an excellent boxer, so it wouldn’t be a total roll-over; however, Fury would still be the favorite.

Povetkin took care of Whyte in their first fight earlier this year, so the second fight was quite anticipated. However, we will have to realign our expectations and see how it goes whenever it is booked.