“He’s a good fighter, but no one knows who he is,” Whyte said about Oleksander Usyk. “He speaks no English. What I’m saying is he’s not really a big fight for me. The hardcore boxing fans will watch it [Whyte vs. Usyk], but imagine trying to sell Usyk-Dillian Whyte to the general public.” - Dillian Whyte "Let's fight this 5'10'' Colombian who has never been on UK television." - Dillian Whyte
Matchroom boxing is proper unfolding.....Hearn speading himself too thin.Dreadful unworthy PPVs .cancelled shows.Sky unhappy ...Keeping actual good fights secret because another card has bombed What a time to be alive
Just an excuse so he don’t have to fight him. I can see a lot of fighters rolling out this excuse. Loads of people know Usyk, especially after the Bellew fight.
Usyk is a big name, he's done amazing things already in his career and is quite clearly a very talented boxer. What he did in the WBSS was remarkable, he comfortably beat the best the division had to offer, after that he brutally KO'd Bellew............and that's when I fell in love!
Hearn had it all his own way for about 8 years; set up by daddy and riding the cash and publicity wave that the 2012 Olympics sowed. Now there's a bit of adversity, all of a sudden not having to learn lessons the hard way has come to bite him, hard. Not just that but people he lorded it over and generally disrespected have come back with a vengeance to take a dump from a great height. Hearn always prided himself as being able to shift sand to Arabs, ice to Eskimos and beef to a vegan. Yet, it's becoming abundantly clear that the general public's patience with being constantly asked to shell out for dud matchups while perpetually waiting for even mildly competitive ones has reached its epoch and the fans just ain't playing the game no more. This is a slight problem, given Hearn's business model in terms of marketing matchups is basically "bait and switch" - to talk up mouthwatering matchups then switch to junk and hope no one notices.
That's true, then the counter argument becomes, ok well they both are unknowns, who brings more to the table at this stage for Whyte... and it's Rivas due to ranking, being a Heavyweight contender etc. Usyk brought no such ranking, and he is gunning for the champ anyway.