By Richard Damerell and Jake Meskell

Dillian Whyte’s heavyweight clash with Oscar Rivas should become a WBC final eliminator with the WBC ‘interim title’ at stake, says promoter Eddie Hearn.

The Brixton man is risking his No 1 status with the WBC against Rivas at The O2 on July 20, live on Sky Sports Box Office, after being made to wait for a fight against WBC champion Deontay Wilder.

Dominic Breazeale received a mandatory shot at Wilder in New York on May 18, live on Sky Sports, despite Whyte’s superior ranking, and Hearn has urged the governing body to come up with a ‘significant’ resolution for his fighter.

Hearn told Sky Sports: “Everything that he’s done in that division, all the defences of his WBC ‘silver’ title, a couple of world title eliminators, and him ranked No 1 for god knows how long, and yet someone who is ranked four or five becomes the mandatory.

We want the Oscar Rivas fight to be for the mandatory position with the WBC and for that interim world title.

Eddie Hearn

“We’re pushing hard for a resolution, and we want the Oscar Rivas fight to be for the mandatory position with the WBC and for that interim world title. We’ll see where that goes.

“We’re all trying to come up with a resolution that’s fair and we haven’t yet, so we’re still pushing. We want the Rivas fight to be for something very significant for the WBC and that’s probably an interim world title fight and to become the mandatory to the winner of Deontay Wilder against Dominic Breazeale.”

Whyte is also ranked at No 1 by the WBO, although Oleksandr Usyk had been set to become the next WBO mandatory challenger after the undisputed cruiserweight champion stepped up to heavyweight.

The Ukrainian formerly held the WBO belt among his four cruiserweight titles and is expected to remain in pole position for a shot at Anthony Joshua’s WBO belt, despite an injury delaying his debut in the top division.

“That mandatory is not due to be called until September 30,” said Hearn. “My gut feeling is they’ll still call Usyk for that mandatory spot, but if Dillian gets that mandatory, great.”

Watch Dillian Whyte vs Oscar Rivas and David Allen vs David Price live on Sky Sports Box Office at The O2 on July 20.

Article courtesy of Richard Damerell, Jake Meskell and Sky Sports