In the eyes of many, seemingly the only way for Whyte to deserve a title shot would be for him to go back in time 3 years and not fight Joshua. Literally, the only reason anyone seems to have for Whyte being unworthy of a title shot is a loss 3 years ago. If he had gone the Ortiz route and almost exclusively fought bums, he would be considered the boogeyman of the division.
I think most hold the fact he walked away from the final eliminator against Pulev against him, to be honest. And the Ortiz one too, though he'd be after Dominic B most likely.
Hearn has to convince Joshua's brutal and decisive knock out of Whyte in 2015 was in some way inconclusive. It's a hard sell but will still do decent numbers...
I think it will but maybe not for the reasons you'd think. I think Joshuas crown is starting to slip. He talks down to the public and other boxers recently as if he thinks he's better than everyone. I can see a lot of people turning up in the hope of him getting chinned and brought back down to earth.
There are problems with Joshua's image right now. A few fights ago everyone was pretty much in agreement he was the world champ and Fury was done. Now Fury has shown he's still a force in the division questions have started being asked of Joshua's status as champ. All of his belts can be traced back to Fury and so people aren't giving Joshua the same level of reverence they did before. Add in to the fact that Fury should also now be WBC champ too and it makes his 'real lineal champ' rhetoric pretty appealing to a casual fan who used to be Joshua's biggest fan. Then there is the stuff dogging Joshua outside the ring. His gun running cousin, the 'superior' and Mugabe comments he was linked with. Hardly appealing to the football fans he so often counted upon to buy tickets and PPVs. This all comes at a time wherein Fury has managed to complete turn his public image around. Mental how quickly things can change. Oh and **** Wilder and his whole dog and pony show. I don't believe he or his idiot team have ever really wanted to step up as the two occasions they did they had reasons for thinking those fights would be a lot easier than they ended up being. He shouldn't still be champ and his million excuses are cringeworthy. I'm glad Breland outed him as idiot unwilling to learn rather than some unorthodox boxing visionary doing things a revolutionary new way.
Even if he fought and beat either Pulev I think the same people would be against him having a World title fight, because he lost to AJ 3 years. If he walked away from a title eliminator against Ortiz, why is he still ranked #1 by the WBC. The IBF removed both Whyte and Miller from their rankings when they turned down the Pulev fight eliminator.
Dillian Whyte no1 with WBC & WBO Kubrat Pulev is no1 with IBF Jarrell Miller is no2 with WBA. We have seen Whyte so I'd like to see AJ v another boxer & this will be PPV whoever AJ faces.
I also think he's finally feeling the pressure of being 'the man'. Until the Wilder fiasco (who caused it doesn't really matter) his career path was seamless and followed the plan. Now he's hit roadblocks - fights not being made and the return of the now-popular Fury - and I sense he's feeling some heat and a pressure to deliver. His snarl at Whyte ringside and subsequent rant was off-message re: the stay humble narrative. I'm not sure he likes other HWs getting attention and in the past few months he's been superseded in terms of publicity by both Wilder and Fury. Having to regurgitate the Whyte match-up probably annoys him....
The WBC rankings are largely meaningless. Being #1 doesn't mean you're mandatory. You're mandatory whenever the WBC decide that you're mandatory. They're crooked as Hell but if you want their belts then you need to jump through their hoops
Dillian Whyte over his last few fights hassde quite the name for himself. You will have all of his previous supporters who came out for Chisora, Parker and Browne and love all of them fights. Then you have all the AJ fans coming out in droves. Then you have the purists who back to 2015 and see this rematch as consequential. Over 80K no problem. Its a good world title fight with two of the nations biggest names in heavyweight boxing. No sweat.
This will make money at the gate and at the box office but I feel it sells between 60 and 70 thousand with the rest being comps Still a great number though
Fury Joshua fight will happen either late in 2019 or early 2020. Fury even said himself that he wants to be 100% for that fight. There is too much at stake in the UK for AJ Fury fight not to happen. Not expecting Wilder at all to ever fight in the UK while he is WBC champion. He is clearly being held onto for safety reasons in the US fighting sub-par opposition with corrupt judging officials.
Yep course it will but as an AJ fan I’d rather him risk going to the US like Fury did,least that way,Wilder would have no excuse for not fighting him.
What are comps?is it like at Wimbledon and Lords where they hand out tickets to corporate jobs who don’t have any interest in the sport.