By: Hans Themistode
Dillian Whyte’s highly anticipated heavyweight showdown against Otto Wallin has officially been pushed to the wayside.
With only a few short days left until the pair faced off on Halloween eve at the O2 Arena in Greenwich London, Whyte has reportedly suffered a shoulder injury as training camp winded down. While it’s unclear the severity of Whyte’s injury, it was enough discomfort to force the British contender to remove himself from the event altogether.
News of Whyte’s forced withdrawal is particularly disheartening for Wallin, as he’s endured several postponements throughout the course of his brief career.
In the eyes of oddsmakers, Wallin vs. Whyte was essentially considered a coin flip. However, both WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and promoter Bob Arum were steadfast in their belief that Wallin would walk into the hometown of Whyte and strip him of his WBC interim title. That in turn, would give Wallin exactly what he was looking for as he’s longed for a sequel against Fury.
The two originally squared off on September 14th, 2019, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fury, of course, was viewed as a gargantuan favorite. Still, Wallin never appeared unnerved about facing whom many consider to be the best heavyweight in the world.
After opening up an enormous gash over the right eye of Fury, one that required 47 stitches, Wallin fought Fury on mostly even terms until fading down the stretch. Fury’s incredibly close battle with Wallin may have resulted in a victory, but Wallin’s skills were accentuated nonetheless.
Since then, Wallin has gone on to pick up two impressive victories. Most recently, the Swedish born contender easily dismantled former heavyweight title challenger, Dominic Breazeale. As for Whyte, after scoring a number of victories in a row, his road to a heavyweight title hit a significant speed bump as he was brutally stopped in the fifth round in August of 2020 against Alexander Povetkin. Whyte would eventually reel Povetkin back into the ring seven months later, registering the fourth knockout win and reclaiming his lofty status in the WBC rankings.
At the moment, it’s unclear if Whyte vs. Wallin will be rescheduled, or if Whyte will opt to pursue a showdown against Fury instead.