Heavyweights Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora shared a ring for 12 explosive Fight-of-the-Year-candidate rounds this past December.

Since then Whyte (20-1, 15 knockouts) enjoyed Christmas with his family, looked into some business opportunities and recently returned from a holiday in Dubai and Thailand.

During that time Whyte has kept his eye on the busy heavyweight landscape and says he will be back in action in the coming months.

“I’m fighting May 27th,” Whyte told RingTV.com. “I don’t know who yet. I’m waiting for Eddie Hearn to give me a call to go through who I’m fighting, so we’ll see.

“There were talks about a Chisora rematch. I’m up for the fight but the sticking point is the money at the moment, they’re not willing to pay me what I believe the fight is worth so that fight has been put on the backburner. I’m at the stage of my career now where fights have got to make financial or ranking sense, preferably both.”

When reflecting on the Chisora battle, Whyte says “It was a good fight. A great learning fight for me. I’ve not had a lot of experience in boxing, I’m constantly learning on the job. As an amateur and professional I’ve only had 29 fights altogether.

“Boxing is fairly new to me and I’m fairly inexperienced. I’m learning quick, I have a lot of heart and courage and it’s coming together. The Chisora fight was very tough but it’s one I learned a lot from. It’s one that will propel and prepare me for the heavyweight division.”

Whyte, 28, THE RING’s No. 9-ranked heavyweight, is also highly placed by all four sanctioning bodies: the WBA (No. 12), WBC (No. 4), IBF (No. 11) and WBO (No. 13).

Having won a WBC eliminator (with the Chisora fight) he was keen to see how current champion Deontay Wilder would fare against Gerald Washington recently. However, wasn’t particularly impressed by the big Alabama puncher.

Deontay Wilder finishes Gerald Washington in Round 5 of their WBC heavyweight title bout on Feb. 25, 2017. Photo / Ryan Hafey-PBC

“I didn’t learn anything from either man in that fight,” he said. “Wilder is as wild and crazy as ever, his last name sums him up, he fights out of fear, he fights so scared.

“He’s a good fighter and carries a lot of punch power and he’s the WBC champion but I’ve never seen another champion so scared. He hurts these guys and panics and starts swinging and missing and falling all over the place. Very amateurish, if I’m honest. Washington was out-jabbing him but the minute he got hit he was scared. The way he got stopped, it was a soft stoppage. I think Wilder missed with 10 out of 11 punches he threw to stop him.”

Whyte enjoyed Tony Bellew’s upset victory over David Haye last weekend and has some choice words for the gregarious Scouser.

“I thought both men did really well, I thought they both showed a lot of heart, it was a good fight but I think David’s past it,” he said. “He showed a lot of heart and courage to carry on with his injury but I think he’s lost it. David was rusty, you could see from the start of the fight, he seemed off, he seemed like something wasn’t right. I’ve never seen David fight like that his whole career, he was missing, wasn’t jabbing, he was wild.

“Bellew’s a fake heavyweight. Now he’s talking about world titles, he doesn’t deserve a world title shot. If he wants a world title shot he should fight me in a final eliminator.

“He’s beaten someone who wasn’t in the rankings and has been out for five years, comeback and fought two nobodies, you can’t expect to beat a one-legged, injured David Haye and then start screaming for a world title shot. If he wants a world title shot, he should fight me, simple as that. If he wants to make money he needs to fight me. If he’s serious about being a heavyweight he needs to fight me.”

If all goes well in late May, Whyte would like to face Bellew in September and has already spoken to Eddie Hearn, who promotes both men.

“Yeah, well I’ve spoken to Eddie and he’s up for the fight,” he explained. “Eddie said, he’ll try get the fight made, so hopefully we’ll see the fight happen, I’m here and Tony Bellew says he’s ready.

He’ll also have his eye on Anthony Joshua-Wladimir Klitschko blockbuster on April 29. But feels youth will be served.

“It’s a good fight but I just think in boxing it’s all about timing,” he said before explaining. “If Bellew had fought Haye six or seven years ago, David Haye would have killed him, but if you pick the fight at the right time Bellew ended up beating Haye. Joshua’s fighting Klitschko at the right time.

“Klitschko lost to Tyson Fury, coming off close to two years since his last fight, and he’ll be 41. How much time can you roll the clock back. I think timing is against Wladimir and he might lose but you never know, these guys are professionals and he looks after himself, he might be able to roll the clock back and surprise us, he’s very experienced and he does all the fundamentals well, so lets see if he can do something spectacular.

“Joshua is very beatable and he’s a novice in the heavyweight division, Wladimir is very experienced. Both men are very similar in mindset and fighting styles, one’s just a bit younger, we’ll just have to see how it plays out.”