By Richard Damerell,

Dillian Whyte says he should be recognised as one of the world’s top three heavyweights and believes his rivals were unwilling to fight his next opponent Oscar Rivas.

The Brixton man has accepted a high stakes clash with Rivas at The O2 on July 20, live on Sky Sports Box Office, despite being in touching distance of a world title fight as the WBC’s No 1 ranked contender.

Whyte has strengthened his position in the rankings with back-to-back wins over Lucas Browne, Joseph Parker and Derek Chisora – insisting he should be acknowledged alongside current world champions Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder.

“Rivas is a good fight. All the tops guys are afraid to fight him,” Whyte told Sky Sports. “Once again, I’m going to have to step up and take a bigger challenge than the top three in the world is taking. The so-called top three in the world.

“I think I should be top three. I don’t think Tyson Fury should be top three. I could beat all three of the top three and they’ll still have me as number four.”

At last week’s press conference, Whyte went head to head with Rivas in front of the cameras, and expects a brutal battle with the Canada-based Colombian.

“Softly spoken, but don’t let that fool you,” Whyte added. “He’s a strong guy, stocky, well built with wide shoulders.

“His legs and neck are quite big, he looks very strong. I know I’ll be in for a hard night. He’s going to be relentless and he’s undefeated, got a lot of pride.