By Ian S Palmer
There’s a big heavyweight bout scheduled for the O2 Arena in London, England this Saturday, July 20th as Dillian Whyte of Jamaica takes on unbeaten Oscar Rivas of Colombia. The 12-round fight can be seen on DAZN in North America while fans in the UK and Ireland can catch it on Sky Box Office. Whyte last fought in December when he stopped Dereck Chisora in the 11th round to retain his WBO International Belt and WBC Silver Heavyweight Crowns. Rivas last fought in January when he stopped Bryant Jennings in the 12th round.
The 31-year-old Whyte fights out of England and he’s also a former British and WBC International Heavyweight Champion. He enters the ring at 25-1 with 18 Kos and owns quite a bit of power in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 69 per cent. Whyte stands 6-feet-4-four inches tall and has a 78-inch reach and has boxed 133 rounds since turning pro in 2011. His biggest wins have been over Joseph Parker, Lucas Browne, a 10-round unanimous decision over Robert Helenius, a third-round TKO over Brian Minto and two wins over Chisora.
His lone loss came to Anthony Joshua by seventh-round stoppage in December, 2015 before Joshua won his title belts by beating Wladimir Klitschko. Whyte also fought Joshua as an amateur in 2009 and dropped him along the way to a decision win. Whyte’s a former kickboxer and mixed-martial artist with has decent boxing skills but he usually relies on his power to carry him through. He’s got good size for a heavyweight and has a pretty solid chin despite his loss to Joshua and being decked by Parker. Whyte’s also beaten the likes of Ian Lewison, David Allen and Marcelo Luiz Nascimento.
When Rivas stopped Jennings earlier this year he won the WBO NABO Heavyweight Title and the IBF International Heavyweight crown however it appears neither is on the line against Whyte. The 32-year-old fights out of Montreal, Canada and has a perfect mark of 26-0 along with 18 Kos. He had a pretty successful and extensive amateur career and beat Kubrat Pulev at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. He turned pro a year later and has boxed 107 rounds since then. He’s not very big compared to most other current heavyweights as he stands just over six-feet tall with a reach of 76.5 inches. This means he gives up 3.5 inches in height to Jennings as well as 1.5 inches in reach.
Rivas also carries quite a bit of power in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 69 per cent, the same as Whyte. Even though he’s got good power, Rivas has gone the distance in three of his last five outings. Since turning pro he’s captured the NABF Heavyweight Title and has beaten the likes of Jennings, Carl Davis Drumond, Jeremy Bates, Jeremiah Karpency, Joey Abell, Jason Pettaway, Shawn Cox and Matthew Greer. He’ll be taking another step up in class and fighting against Whyte and will be fighting outside of Canada for just the fourth time.
Prediction…
Rivas was arguably on his way to losing against Jennings when he stepped on the gas and caught him in the final round. That was impressive but nothing he did in the first 11 rounds stood out. Whyte’s been stopped and rocked before so he’s going to have to be able to handle Rivas’ power to pull out a win. I’ll give Whyte the edge here due to his experience against better boxers but it’s a very close edge.
