Dillian Whyte Looking For Another Foe, Batchelder Withdraws

By Elliot Foster

Dillian Whyte is looking for yet another opponent ahead of his next fight.

The Brixton heavyweight, who is the co-challenger to the vacant British title along with Sam Sexton, is set to return to the ring this weekend.

Whyte, 28, has a six-round slot on the undercard of the Sky Sports Box Office-televised card at the O2 Arena on June 25, which is topped by Anthony Joshua’s first IBF world title defence against undefeated American Dominic Breazeale.

But as it stands, ‘The Body Snatcher’ (16-1, 13 KOs), doesn’t have an opponent.

This news, which was confirmed by Whyte via social media on Monday evening, comes after the latest foe to accept the fight, Danny Batchelder of Phoenix, Arizona (31-11-1, 15 KOs), has withdrawn.

Batchelder, who is the champion of bare knuckle fighting in the States, took the fight after Whyte’s original opponent, the French heavyweight ruler Cyril Leonet (10-8-2, 3 KOs), pulled out earlier on in camp.

And now with just five days to go until fight night, it’ll be a race against time to find Whyte –– who already has a July 30 date at the First Direct Arena in Leeds pencilled in –– a suitable rival.

Elsewhere on the pay-per-view world title show, Conor Benn will fight for the third time as a professional and John Wayne Hibbert will face Andrea Scarpa for the vacant WBC Silver super-lightweight title, while George Groves and Martin Murray will meet in a WBA super-middleweight world title final eliminator with Groves’ WBA International crown up for grabs.

Chris Eubank Jr. will defend his British middleweight crown against WBC International champion Tom Doran as he looks to march towards a world title shot and late additions to the card include Kal Yafai, who is on the cusp of his own shot at global glory, and Olympic bronze medal-winning middleweight Anthony Ogogo, who is having his second fight in less than a month after returning from a 10-month injury layoff.

And there is action for Ted Cheeseman and new Matchroom signing Felix Cash, who will make his debut having left Team GB.