Dillian Whyte vs. Dereck Chisora in WBC eliminator on Sat.

BoxingNews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid: #10 WBC Dillian Whyte (19-1, 15 KOs) will be fighting #11 WBC Dereck Chisora (26-6, 18 KOs) this Saturday night on December 10 in a WBC heavyweight eliminator bout at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. Whyte vs. Chisora will be taking place on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua vs. Eric Molina card on Sky Box Office pay-per-view. Whyte-Chisora is the co-feature bout.

Whyte will be defending his British heavyweight strap against Chisora. That title is of little significance in the big scheme of things for Whyte. He wants a world title shot, because that’s where the big money comes in.

Whyte is never going to get the big cash if all he does is fiddle around with the British belt rather than a major title. The fact that Whyte even bothered to go after the British title at his age is hard to understand.

I could understand Whyte wanting to win the British belt if he were 22 and just starting out, but the guy is pushing 30-years-old. What the heck is he doing wasting precious time fighting for domestic level straps? If Whyte’s promoter was the one that wanted him to fight for a British title, then he should have told him, ‘No thanks. You go fight for it. My focus is on trying to fight for a world title. I’m not interested in domestic level straps.’ That wouldn’t fly for me. I wouldn’t waste my time fighting for a domestic level strap, ever.

The winner of the Whyte vs. Chisora fight will put themselves on course for a title shot against the 6’7” towering WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder in the near future. Whyte, 28, believes he’s going to be the one that will be coming out on top against the 32-year-old Chisora, and he might be right. Chisora looked terrible in losing to Kubrat Pulev by a 12 round split decision last May in Hamburg, Germany. Forget about the split decision jazz.

Chisora lost to Pulev by a WIDE decision on my scorecard. I had Chisora winning 2 rounds, and I felt like I was being kind to him, because he didn’t even win one round in my book. I gave Chisora two mercy rounds, figuring that the judges would do the same. But I was shocked completely at seeing that one judge actually had Chisora winning the fight by a 115-113 score. What fight was that judge watching? Chisora was just a short, round punching bag out there against Pulev. That was a fight for the vacant EBU heavyweight title.

Chisora is now dropping down to fight for the British heavyweight title against Whyte. I have no idea where Chisora goes if he loses this fight. I mean, if Chisora can’t win the British title and can’t win the EBU title, then what else is there for him? Retirement might be an option that Chisora should consider if he loses to Whyte, especially if he loses badly on Saturday. If Chisora gets knocked out or if he quits again like he did against Tyson Fury in their second fight, then I would have no problems with Chisora hanging up the gloves.

Whyte said this to skysports.com about his fight against Chisora on Saturday night:

“It’s all about stages and I believe that I’m moving through the ranks properly,” Whyte said. “The fight is a big fight and I want one just up from that, because I believe I’m two fights away from a world title after this one. If I go in there and blow Chisora out in a few rounds or whatever, or go in there and box his head off, then I’ve proved to myself and my people that I’m ready and I’m there now.”

Whyte would be better off getting two or three more fights under his belt before he fights for a heavyweight title. What Whyte should do is keeps winning until he becomes the mandatory challenger to Wilder or more preferably Anthony Joshua. Whyte will get a bigger payday as a mandatory challenger.

By getting more fights under his belt, Whyte can try and slowly bring back the lost punching power in his surgically repaired left shoulder. Whyte no longer uses his left hand as a weapon. It’s now used as just a weak jab. It would be bad news for Whyte if he were to fight Joshua or Wilder without the use of his left hand. Whyte needs both arms to be working if he fights those guys, because his right hand power isn’t good enough for him to win against those guys.

It’s pretty obvious that Whyte’s power hasn’t come back in his left arm just by looking at how he’s being forced to go deep into his fights against the weak guys he’s been fighting lately since his surgery. In his last three fights, Whyte has beaten journeyman Ivica Bacurin by a 6th round KO, David Allen by a 10 round unanimous decision, and Ian Lewison by a 10th round stoppage. Those are guys that Whyte likely would have stopped within three rounds if his left arm was strong like in the past.

If Whyte beats Chisora on Saturday night by a knockout or a one-sided 12 round decision, it won’t prove that he’s ready to fight for a world title right away. Nah, I don’t believe that for a second. If Whyte beats Chisora with ease, it just means he beat a domestic level heavyweight, who has failed over and over again when he’s stepped it up a level.

Look at Chisora’s past failures when he’s stepped it up: David Haye, Tyson Fury x 2, Robert Helenius, Kubrat Pulev and Vitali Klitschko. Chisora is one step away from journeyman status. Chisora has won a lot of fights in the last three years, but he’s done it against mediocre opposition. Chisora’s wins have come against these heavyweights:

Peter Erdos

Beka Lobjanidze

Kevin Johnson

Marcelo Luiz Nascimento

Jakov Gospic

Adras Csmor

Drazan Janjanin

Ondrej Pala

Hector Alfredo Avila

Malik Scott

Those are not good heavyweights in my view. Chisora’s win over Malik Scott was a fight with a controversial stoppage in which Scott was knocked down by a looping shot that hit him on the back of his head. Scott then got up at the count of nine, but the referee stopped it anyway. Everything about the ending of that fight was bad in my view. I think the Chisora-Scott fight should have been a no contest with both fighters facing each other in a rematch in a neutral country. I don’t count that as a win for Chisora. To me, it’s a no contest.

“We want one just above Chisora and then someone else, and then move onto the world title fight, that would be ideal for me,” said Whyte.