By Tim Parsons-
Dillian Whyte is risking his WBC title dream against unbeaten Oscar Rivas whom he faces at the 02 on Saturday night.
Whyte says he is excited by the prospect of a violent encounter with dangerous Rivas in their WBC final eliminator at The 02, to be shown live on Sky Sports Box Office. Whyte has been the WBC mandatory for the WBC title for over 600 days, but the organisation has snubbed him , leading the strong Brixton man to accuse them of protecting Deontey Wilder from him. Wilder has blamed Whyte for the delay in the fight, saying that the Londoner missed opportunities to fight him by refusing to take on Luis Ortiz, who Wilder meets for the second time this September.
Unbeaten Wilder has expressed confidence he will beat Whyte easily whenever they meet, but the body snatcher is risking missing out on that big fight by taking on Rivas, when he has done enough to get a straight shot at the world title. His recent 11th round knock out win against Derek Chisora in a hard fight Chisora was winning confirmed his toughness. He faces a more difficult fight on Saturday, and victory will make him a bigger name in the division. Whyte knows how dangerous Rivas is, and is not overlooking him. He said:
I don’t overlook no one,” . “I train hard for everyone and the violence of the sport excites me. I train for it. I love that. I’m ready for that. Why would I all of a sudden overlook someone now?
“The man is dangerous, look at him, he’s got it all. Like his team says he’s got a great team, he trains in Colombia, he trained here, he trained there. He came over, he adapted to the time zone and all this other stuff. Hundreds of amateur fights, and all this other stuff
But this doesn’t mean nothing, this is going to be a fight, and it’s one thing I know how to do – is fight. I’ve been fighting forever. Anyone that knows me will tell you, that’s what I do, I fight. I don’t know how to do a lot of other things well, but I know how to fight.”
The main thing I bring to a fight is being unconventional. I adapt to my situation. I have fought tall guys, awkward guys, pressure fighters – I beat them all, except for one, and we know what happened there.
“We’ve been working for a while, we don’t overlook anyone. I train hard for every one; the violence of this sport excites me and I train for that. Why would I all of a sudden overlook someone”. The fight is an even match up, but Rivas is the favourite to get the win. Whyte will grow in confidence if he beats a strong and fast man like Rivas.
Image: Sky Sports