"They took it away unjustly, so now, bearing in mind the results of the case, they have to reinstate him immediately." - Eddie Hearn.
Monday 9 December 2019 19:51, UK
Dillian Whyte should be "immediately reinstated" as the mandatory challenger to the winner of Deontay Wilder against Tyson Fury, says promoter Eddie Hearn.
Whyte was recently cleared by UK Anti-Doping amid claims of an "adverse finding" surrounding his points win over Oscar Rivas in July, 24 hours before he slugged out a unanimous decision victory over Mariusz Wach in Saudi Arabia to rejuvenate his world title aspirations.
Whyte became mandatory challenger to Wilder's WBC title by beating Rivas, but that status was suspended after the allegations made about him. The WBC has since said that, if his situation was rectified, he could regain mandatory status for February 2021.
"Dillian should get the mandatory position for the winner of Wilder vs Fury [The rematch is scheduled for Feb 22]," Hearn exclusively told Sky Sports.
"We go back to the WBC now and make sure they give him what he was supposed to get.
They have to reinstate him immediately, and it should come for the winner of Wilder-Fury.
"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."
After taking scores of 98-93 and 97-93 twice to beat Wach at the newly-built Diriyah Arena, having come in a career-heaviest, Whyte, who echoes his promoter, admitted to Sky Sports that it's been a hellish five-month period.
"We've been loyal to the WBC and fought back-to-back top ten contenders, They were very quick to take me out of the mandatory position, they should now remove that 2021 nonsense and put me back in. Forget Tyson Fury, what has he done?
"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."
'The Body Snatcher', having improved his resume to 27-1, will now await a decision on his WBC mandatory challenger status as he continues on the hunt for a long-awaited world title shot.
