As previously reported on BoxingScene.com, British contender Dillian Whyte (21-1, 16 KOs) is ready and willing to step in on late notice to fight WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs).
Whyte has been chasing Wilder for a while and the door for a showdown just opened up in full force.
Wilder was scheduled to fight Cuban puncher Luis Ortiz on November 4th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, as part of a Showtime televised tripleheader.
But now the fall has fallen through after it was revealed on Thursday night that Ortiz had failed a pre-fight drug test.
Wilder still intends to fight on November 4, but now he's in serious need of a top opponent and Whyte wants to be that man. He claims that Wilder rejected several seven-figure offers to face him, and instead went after a contender who is "old" and would be coming off a near one year layoff.
"I've been chasing that fight for a while," Whyte exclusively told Sky Sports. "It's a bit short notice, four weeks and a bit, but I've been training and I'm always ready to go. I believe it's a very winnable fight and it's one which I would take if we can reach terms and the terms is right, then yeah.
"Deontay Wilder is a coward, he wanted to fight Luis Ortiz [instead of me], because Ortiz is old and been inactive for a long time. That's the only reason he wants to fight Luis Ortiz. He doesn't want to fight nobody who is young, who is going to come there to win the fight."
According to Whyte, his promoter - Eddie Hearn of Matchroom - has tried to get several high end opponents and all of them have rejected lucrative offers.
"Charles Martin, Lucas Browne, Jarrell Miller, we've offered everyone in the top 15 to fight me and no one really has taken it," said Whyte. "There is not a lot of people left. Maybe Carlos Takam is a good one?
"I've had [Robert] Helenius offered, Lucas Browne offered, Charles Martin offered, [Alexander] Dimitrenko offered. That's four different styles, so I've just had to get what sparring I can. Charles Martin definitely don't want it, because he said to [adviser] Al Haymon 'get me a fight, I'll fight anyone', and he's been calling me out. He said no we don't want that kind of work at this moment in time. We don't want to fight Dillian."