Dillian Whyte Reportedly Out Vs. Otto Wallin With Shoulder Injury

UPDATE OCTOBER 21, 2021, 11:29 AM ET: Eddie Hearn confirmed Dillian Whyte is out due to shoulder injury after an MRI. The show will still go on, Hearn said. It is unclear if they are looking for a new opponent.

Reports are circulating that Dillian Whyte is out from his bout versus Otto Wallin due to a shoulder injury – cancelling the matchup altogether.

But neither has been confirmed by Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn.

At the time of this writing, Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) is still scheduled to defend his WBC interim heavyweight title against Wallin (22-1, 14 KOs) in a DAZN headliner at the O2 Arena in London.

The winner of this was then likely to get an order to face heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, but now all of that is unclear.

WBC’s exact ruling was that if Tyson Fury can’t agree a fight with Oleksandr Usyk within 30 days, then he must defend vs ‘interim’ champion – Dillian Whyte still holds that belt and so, despite the Otto Wallin fight reportedly being off, looks set to still get his mandatory shot.

— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) October 20, 2021

The WBC already ruled that Fury must face the winner of Whyte-Wallin or WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titleholder Oleksandr Usyk, but Usyk is going to rematch Anthony Joshua first, as per their rematch clause. So, Fury’s only option at that point is to take on the Whyte-Wallin winner.

“If it is an injury, he [Whyte] should heal, and they should reschedule this event. That would be the fair thing to do,” Wallin’s promoter Dmitriy Salita told Sky Sports.

“It would not be fair to the sport of boxing for Dillian Whyte to have an injury, to be able to be mandated to fight Fury,” Salita continued.

“It was truly the right eliminator for the fight with Fury.”