DILLIAN WHYTE will have to wait until January for a rematch with Alexander Povetkin, according to Eddie Hearn.
The Matchroom promoter has insisted that the December fight schedule – which features match-ups for Tyson Fury, Billy Joe Saunders and more – is too ‘cluttered’ for the pay-per-view event.
Dereck Chisora had stepped forward to offer Whyte a contest after his August shock at the hands of Povetkin.
But Hearn believes only the Russian or an unlikely meeting with Tyson Fury is of interest to the 32-year-old.
He told reporters: “The fight that [Whyte] wants more than anything is Alexander Povetkin.
“I think that he has to rectify that defeat or try to rectify that defeat.
“There is one fight that I believe he would take, and that’s Tyson Fury on December 5.
“I’m not sure we’d expect that to happen but, at the end of the day, unquestionably Dillian Whyte would fight Tyson Fury on December 5 – if they wanted to discuss that fight.”
Whyte has already downed Chisora on two occasions but the 36-year-old heavyweight offered himself up for a trilogy fight earlier in the week.
Nevertheless, Hearn is happy for his man to wait out and focus on the rematch with Povetkin.
But he did admit there was a temptation to jump back into the ring and face down Chisora, with it a feasible fight from a financial point of view.
He noted: “Realistically we will postpone that fight with Povetkin to January 30.
“And any fighter who has trained for eight weeks and then loses his fight will say, ‘I just want to fight’. And yesterday that was very much the opinion.
“But Dillian Whyte has got a pay-per-view slot and Dereck Chisora, possibly that could work.
“Michael Hunter even threw his name in the hat – for free, apparently – but that’s not a pay-per-view fight for November 23. Especially with the clutter coming up.
“So I said to Dillian, ‘Unless we get asked to fight Tyson Fury, you’ve just got to wait until January 30’.
“That’s the fight for you and that’s what you’ve got to do. We’ll announce that in the next 24 hours.”
