The O2 Arena will be host to a huge heavyweight battle between Dillian Whyte and Oscar Rivans. While this fight isn’t a championship bout, both fighters will treat it as one, as the “eliminator” winner is expected to challenge Deontay Wilder – assuming that he gets past Luis Ortiz in his next fight. Read on for more about Whyte vs. Rivas bout below.
The day Whyte has long been waiting for is finally set to arrive. Whyte, who is 31 years old, is an experienced fighter with a number of key victories and bouts against quality opponents. He is on a roll right now, having won all of his past nine fights. That streak kicked off after a loss to former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in a showdown for the British heavyweight title. A loss to Joshua isn’t something to be ashamed of, and since that bout, Whyte has taken down the likes of Dereck Chisora (twice) and Joseph Parker. In his most recent bout, Whyte knocked Chisora out at the O2 Arena back in December. So apart from the huge momentum he’s carrying into his title fight opposite Rivas, Whyte is also going to fight in a location he’s very familiar with, which should allow him to get settled early in the bout. Whyte has a two-inch reach advantage over Rivas and has been in wars against seemingly better quality opponents with a collective winning 87 winning percentage against the 81 winning percentage of Rivas’ foes.
Nobody’s sleeping now on Rivas. That’s after the Columbian, who’s fighting out of Montreal, scored a technical knockout over Bryant Jenning in Verona back in January of this year. Rivas is undefeated, and while, as mentioned earlier, has had faced lesser experienced opponents, his skill is undeniable. After all, he’s ranked inside the top 10 of most respected governing bodies’ list of top heavyweight contenders. Tyson Fury even rejected a deal to fight Rivas, a detail that speaks a lot about how dangerous a fighter that Whyte is about to square off with. Rivas, 32, also has a knack of finishing fights early. Although his last fight three fights went at least 10 rounds long, largely in part to the quality of his opponents over that stretch, Rivas’ fights last an average of 4.3 rounds compared to 6.8 in Whyte’s bouts. Rivas wreaked havoc, too, in the amateur ranks, wherein he defeated Andy Ruiz Jr., who most people know now as Joshua’s conqueror and the current owner of the WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight belts.
Writer’s Prediction
Whyte scores an upset victory over Rivas via split decision.
