Dillian Whyte should be reinstated as Deontay Wilder’s mandatory challenger for WBC title, says Eddie Hearn
Promoter believes UK Anti-Doping’s decision to withdraw a positive drugs test charge against Whyte should result in him regaining his position as the WBC’s mandatory challenger
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Your support makes all the difference.Eddie Hearn has called on the World Boxing Council to reinstate Dillian Whyte as the mandatory challenger to Deontay Wilder’s championship after his charge for a doping violation was dropped.
Whyte remained Wilder’s mandatory challenger for more than two years after rising through the ranks of the WBC, yet has not got close to fighting the American in what would be his first world title shot of his career.
The organisation elected to remove Whyte from his position when he returned an ‘adverse finding’ before his bout with Oscar Rivas in July, but UK Anti-Doping [Ukad] cleared Whyte in the hours leading up to his victory over Mariusz Wach on the undercard of Saturday’s bout between Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz.
The WBC previously suggested that if Whyte was cleared of the drugs test failure, he could move back into contention by early 2021, but promoter Eddie Hearn believes that process should be brought forward because he has not served any ban and he should be installed as the mandatory challenger for whoever emerges victorious from the 22 February rematch between Wilder and Tyson Fury.
“Dillian should get the mandatory position for the winner of Wilder vs Fury,” Hearn told Sky Sports.
“We go back to the WBC now and make sure they give him what he was supposed to get.
“In my opinion, they took it away unjustly, so now, bearing in mind the results of the case, they have to reinstate him immediately, and it should now come for the winner of that fight.”
Whyte described the five months since learning of the ‘adverse finding’ as “hell”, though in a frank Twitter message that accompanied the Ukad statement confirming that the charge had been withdrawn, the 31-year-old said: “For those who believed in me I won’t forget you. To those who didn’t, I won’t forgive you and I know who you are.”
He added to Sky Sports: “My last two fights have been hell – I won them, but they were hell.
“The Rivas fight? I didn't sleep for 48 hours before. I couldn't sleep because I knew what was going on. I'd sold tickets and wondered if the show would go on.
“Pure madness, pure madness. It was crazy. I'm a tough person, a strong person. My team kept me motivated and said: ‘let's get through this’. 'You're innocent, we'll fight this'.
“Everyone was quick to throw me in a hole with no evidence and no facts. The facts are that I'm clean, I've always been clean and I've always been innocent.”
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