Bob Arum: Otto Wallin will beat Dillian Whyte and scupper his WBC world title chance

Dillian Whyte has been tipped to lose his heavyweight clash later this month against Otto Wallin and miss out on a crack at the WBC world title.

The governing body has mandated that the winner of Saturday’s rematch between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder must face the Brixton puncher next unless they go straight into a unification against Oleksandr Usyk. That looks highly unlikely with Uysk, now holding a number of the major belts, committed to an instant return with former champion Anthony Joshua.

But Bob Arum, who promotes Fury, does not expect Whyte to defeat Wallin at Greenwich’s 02 Arena on October 30.

“This happened to Dillian Whyte all the time…last time he was mandatory he fought the Russian guy [Alexander] Povetkin and got knocked on his arse,” said the veteran American fight figure. “Let me tell you, this Wallin guy is a helluva fighter. I look for Wallin to clearly beat Whyte. So I’m not even taking it into consideration.

“I don’t think Whyte gets past Wallin. Wallin is a really good fighter and I don’t think Whyte is a good fighter.

“For me, the best scenario would be for Tyson Fury to fight Usyk with a contract for the winner to fight Joshua. That is what everyone wants to see. Whether that can come about, I don’t know.

“Joshua has to agree and Usyk, who is a good friend of mine, has to agree to fight Tyson. If we can put that together – plus with fight with Joshua – that would make a lot of money for everyone. I’m not confident at all [that it happens] but I throw it out there for anybody involved to discuss. It’s certainly worth discussing.

“If the unification fight can’t be made and Fury ends up fighting Dillian Whyte, then so be it. It’s not a bad fight. The big fights belong here [in Las Vegas] because the pay-per-view in the United States is robust. Once there is no travel ban, which is lifted in November, 10,000 Brits would come over here for the fight. Vegas is made for those kind of tourists. It works better here than any place in the world.”

PICTURE: MATCHROOM BOXING