Dillian Whyte will attempt to put a difficult few months behind him when he takes on Mariusz Wach on the Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz Jr undercard this weekend in Saudi Arabia.
The 31-year-old fights for the first time since outpointing Oscar Rivas in July, a victory that further cemented his status as the WBC’s mandatory challenger for Deontay Wilder’s heavyweight crown.
Confusion has reigned since then, however, following an adverse doping test. Whyte was cleared to fight Rivas by UKAD and the British Boxing Board of Control, only for the WBC to provisionally suspend the Londoner as their mandatory challenger in the aftermath while an investigation into his sample was carried out.
The situation is still not resolved, much to the frustration of Whyte and promoter Eddie Hearn.
For now, Whyte’s focus will be making a statement in front of a huge boxing audience against 6ft 7in Wach.
The Polish fighter has won 35 of his 40 professional bouts, including his last two. The 37-year-old has struggled stepping up to anything resembling world level, however, having lost to Martin Banole, Artur Szpilka and Jarrell Miller in the last two years.
Wach also has defeats to Alexander Povetkin and Wladimir Klitschko on his record.
Date, UK start time and venue
Whyte vs Wach serves as the chief undercard fight as Anthony Joshua attempts to wrestle his heavyweight titles back from Andy Ruiz Jr on Saturday 7 December in an open-air venue in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.
Ringwalks for the main event are expected to take place around 8:30pm GMT - we expect Whyte to make his way to the ring at around 7:30pm.
Will there be a live stream? How can I watch it?
Joshua vs Ruiz 2 will be live on Sky Sports Box Office.
UK customers can purchase the fight for £19.95 (€24.95 for those in the Republic of Ireland) up until midnight on Friday July 19.
Those prices still apply to self-service bookings (remote control and online) made after that time, but telephone bookings are set at £24.95 (€29.95 ROI). Sky note that "an additional £2 booking fee if via an agent still applies".
Betting tips via Betfair Exchange | UK users only | Subject to change
- Whyte to win: 1/18
- Wach to win: 18/1
- Draw: 35/1
Prediction
On the biggest night of heavyweight boxing of the year, Whyte will be determined to put on a show. KO win for the Londoner in the early-to-mid rounds.
Rest of card
- Alexander Povetkin vs Michael Hunter
- Filip Hrgovic vs Eric Molina
- Mahammadrasul Majidov vs Tom Little
- Diego Pacheco vs Selemani Saidi
- Hopey Price vs Swedi Mohamed
- Majid Al Naqbi vs Ilia Beruashvili
- Zuhayr Al Qahtani vs Omar Dusary
