He's consistently been written off in his past few fights which tends to make his supporters a bit more defensive when he wins against the odds. He's not the most skillful man out there, and can be very vulnerable and prone to embarrassing moments. But when you have wins over Browne, Helenius, Chisora, Parker, Rivas and a close fight with Povetkin you're legitimately top ten, no matter how average you look. Course that doesn't mean that there aren't fighters ranked beneath him that could potentially cause an upset; that's the case for anyone, and Whyte makes the possibility a bit stronger due to how recklessly he can fight. But as of right now he's earned to right to a solid place in the current top ten. So rated about right for me.
I say Whyte is underrated. Clearly a world level fighter and talk that he isn't world level does him a injustice. One of the better resumes at HW at present, if he wins the rematch against Povetkin he will have the best and deepest resume behind AJ. I had Whyte winning by several points against Parker even ignoring the headbut KD that shouldn't of counted. Although I would back Parker to win the rematch. Thought Whyte vs Chisora 1 wasn't controversial,I had Whyte winning by several points. Koed Chisora brutally in the rematch. Whyte deservedly won comfortably on points against Rivas despite that late scare. About a 3rd of this forum backed Browne to beat Whyte prior to the fight FFS.
Whyte isn't world class, forget what Hearn says, he is Whytes promoter/hype man. Whyte has had some good results, he had a good run, very lucky in that run also. Can you imagine what Wilder would do to Whyte? Ruiz Jr? Fury? AJ? I'd also pick fighters like Usyk, Michael Hunter, Hrgovic, Joyce, to give Whyte a slap, maybe even Yoka, I'm not sure Whyte would deal with Bakole, Gassiev, Dubois, Kabayel.. Whyte is decent, he has made the most of his situation, talent and position with Hearn, I honestly believe this is all about to come crashing down. I think he will beat Covid ridden Povetkin in the rematch, then it has to be another big fight, it should be a tough name and that's when it all goes sideways. Wouldn't be surprised if after Povetkin, Hearn drags Whyte towards domestic level and a third fight with Chisora because the top heavyweights will do a number on Whyte and it's over after that.
He’s was never really that good to begin with. He gets dropped in just about all his high level fights.
How is whyte not world class ? I'd day he has the third best resume. Maybe 4th if you wanna add povetkin. But he's still at that level.
Whyte isn't world class 'because Hearn says so.' He's world class because he's beaten other world class fighters. Hearn might hype up Whyte's chances against whoever, but don't confuse that for artificial manufacturing of an unproven product. He's only able to hype Whyte up because Whyte's on his own back maneuvered himself into a position to be considered for title shot contention (or had done up until the Povetkin loss). I don't agree that Whyte should automatically be steered into a title shot if he beats a probably very faded and frail Povetkin, but fighters have got shots for less, and given the way he was jerked around by the WBC I wouldn't consider it the worst crime in the world if he got another crack at a belt. What exactly does Ruiz do to him? That's exactly the sort of fight that Whyte would get written off for, then go on to win, probably in a manner that his perennial detractors would be able to spin as 'fluky' in some way. Ruiz outside of the Joshua fight has done very little to make him a heavy favourite over Whyte, or even a favourite at all. Overrated? Yeah, he ticks that box. I sort of agree with you here. Thing is, those are (mostly) all fights Whyte could go on to win as well, only I'll bet my bottom dollar if he did he wouldn't get any credit for them. At any rate it's academic at this point. Whyte's actually proven himself against top ranked opponents while the likes of Hrgovic, Yoka, Dubois and co have not. Therefore he deserves to be ranked higher than them. Not much more to it than that. I doubt Whyte would be content to go back to domestic level. I don't think he's ever been afraid of losing or he would never have bounced back from the Joshua defeat the way he did. I think in Whyte's eyes it's all or nothing, and he'll keep grinding until he gets the prize or gets knocked out of contention for good. Yes it probably all will come crashing down at some point because I don't think Whyte is good enough to beat the top dogs, but you can't fault a man for trying can you?
1, I wasn't saying that because Hearn says he is that he isn't, I was basically saying don't just listen to Hearn, he hypes him up, he overrates all his fighters and will tell you Whyte is the most dangerous Heavyweight on the planet if you give him the chance. What "world class" fighters has Whyte beaten? Parker? At home with Matchroom benefits, with a dodgy Knockdown and hanging on for dear life at the end. Yeaaah OK, decent win, nothing that impressive in that performance. Whyte went life or death with Chisora twice (lost the first fight in most people's opinion) and pulled out a punch from his backside in the second fight. Is Chisora "world class"? Dropped by Parker, Rivas (shall we talk about the failed test in that one), sparked by AJ and old man Povetkin, looked like a bag of turd against Wach, went the distance with a frail Helenius and was hurt early in that fight and he went also the distance with Dave Allen. What are you watching? 2, Well hang on what do you mean you don't think Whyte should be steered to a world title shot if he beats Povetkin? You just said he has beaten "world class" fighters, so he if he has, what else does he have to do? He is 32 years old and although the WBC messed him around he turned down the chance of an AJ rematch because 8-10 million wasn't enough. Refused a final eliminator against Luis Ortiz, so Ortiz fought Wilder a second time, so Whyte has had opportunities, just not the ones he or Hearn wanted. 3, Ruiz is all wrong for Whyte, from start to finish it's a bad fight for Whyte, Hearn is talking Wilder for Whyte, not Ruiz Jr, the hand speed, the power, the ring IQ, the technical ability, If AJ doesn't carry enough power to get Ruiz out of there then Whyte certainly doesn't. Ruiz beats Whyte with ease, Whytes footwork is awful, Whyte can dig in and will have a war, I will give him that but technically he is average at best, AJ moved around all night in the rematch against Ruiz Jr, he didn't want to stand in front of Ruiz and fight, Whyte hasn't got that sort of movement or technical ability, I genuinely believe Ruiz would stop Whyte mid to late. 4, we need to look at this realistically, Hearn hasn't any intention of getting Whyte a world title shot for a couple of years at least.. AJ has Fury Twice, Usyk or Joyce, maybe another mandatory after that.. where does Whyte actually fit in? I'll tell you.. Hearn is using Whyte to fill PPV dates, so he has to keep him relevant and right in the mix, Whyte is apparently now a PPV headliner, if Whyte loses again it's very very hard to justify it. Sky and Hearn know this and that's why it was such a shock and they reacted the way they did, Povetkin was brought to the UK as a "name" and to get beaten up, that defeat threw a huge spanner in the PPV works. That's why Hearn and Whyte have been so insistent and so determined to do this rematch, it's the only way to justify the "blip" and then move forward to another PPV fight/date. Where else does Whyte go if and when he beats Povetkin? Wilder? Ruiz Jr? They are fights he would be a huge underdog for in my opinion and they are almost cash out fights in terms of ambition. If they don't do Wilder, Ruiz Jr then it's one of those names, it has to be and I wouldn't put any money on Whyte to win any of those fights. When is the last time Whyte impressed? When was the last time Whyte looked world class? he was just sparked by an old man, Wach? Rivas? Chisora? That takes us back to 2018... Parker? Browne? Helenius? Helenius was 2017, we are starting to go back a fair old way now. Are these really "world class" opponents and where they "world class" performances? I'm just not seeing it.
Maybe because better is to collect paychecks cos he isn't going to beat Ruiz Jr even in his lazy version, maybe even Usyk will beat him up, not alone A.J or Fury. Yeah, It is nice that someone here get why eddie waked up long years out of prime and over the hill Povetkin, ranked below Whyte and even put clauses in contract. Upset happened. Like when they booked Ruiz Jr for A.J to fight with.
No, just no, Povetkin is way past it. There's not a chance that win makes his resume better than Fury or even Wilder for that matter. If you had him winning by several points against Chisora in the first fight and also against Parker then you clearly have a bias towards him because no one else would've had those fights definitively in his favour.
Instead of Usyk he had 39 y.o Pulev! Oh, after covid and hospitals 41.yo Povetkin still will be called as good " marquee fight " if Whyte will beat him.
Fury notable wins: Wlad Chisora x 2 Wilder x w Whyte if he beat Povetkin Notable wins over Povetkin Parker Chisora x 2 Rivas Helenius Fury would still have the best career win of the two fighters in his wins against wlad however Whyte has the deeper resume of quality of the two. Wilder? You can't be serious? Wilder resume is extremely padded against low quality opposition with his most and only real notable win being against Ortiz who himself has had only 1 notable win his whole career. I know a lot of Wilder and Fury fans seem use Ring magazine rankings like its a bible and their bible bashers (I disagree with a lot of their rankings) ...well if Whyte beats Povetkin he would of beaten more current top 10 ring magazine opponents(Povetkin,Parker and Rivas) than Fury and Wilder combined (wilder and Ortiz). As for the Whyte vs Chiosra 1 and vs Parker, Im not biased not biased (I reckon Parker would beat Whyte should they rematch). I just agree with the judges and go against the anti match room brigade crowd narrative that are anti anything match room related.
The manner of victory counts for something too. So an older Chisora with a few more losses under his belt doesn't count for as much, also the fact that he didn't look great against him. Povetkin is straight up shot at this point, he's just not the same as he used to be whatsoever. Put whatever spin on it that you like but that won't be a great win, especially since his body has been ravaged by covid beforehand. Rivas is decent but is he top class at all? Don't think so, haven't seen him test himself against much quality opposition and he's struggled badly both times he did. Same goes for Helenius, this comeback iteration is not that good and should be thankful that Kownacki is so crap because otherwise he wouldn't even be considered top 20. He took Whyte the distance despite having no gas tank at all and a crap chin, should say plenty about how overrated Dillian is. Parker is his best win and even that was another close one (no he did not win that by a wide margin like you seem to think). I don't think Parker is all that though, he has a habit of not pressing his advantage and arguably should have lost against Ruiz and Hughie Fury. All in all Whyte is shite, he's got no balance, good but overrated power, a shoddy chin, and is just plain sloppy.
