Otto Wallin is as aware as any heavyweight just how difficult it is to beat Tyson Fury.
After spending 12 rounds in the ring with the unbeaten WBC champion, Wallin can’t see a path to victory for Dillian Whyte in their 12-round title fight next month.
“Fury will be a big favorite for me,” Wallin told BoxingScene.com. “I think he’s gonna handle him. Whyte doesn’t have fast hands or fast feet, and you need that to beat Fury. I see Fury handling him.”
London’s Whyte will still be dangerous, according to Wallin, due to his trademark left hook and right hand.
“Whyte has power and always a puncher’s chance, but Fury’s a smart guy,” Wallin said. “He’s bigger, he’s a great boxer and he can be aggressive, too. So, I see Fury winning that fight. The way he handled [Dereck] Chisora, he might be able to do the same with Whyte.”
The 6-foot-5, 236-pound Wallin’s left hand opened a cut above Fury’s right eye during the third round and caused problems for the Manchester native for nine-plus rounds. Fury still won comfortably on all three scorecards (118-110, 117-111, 116-112), yet the previously unproven Wallin emerged as a much tougher opponent for Fury than anticipated and established himself as a legitimate contender.
The 31-year-old Wallin was supposed to box Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) on October 30 at O2 Arena in London. Whyte withdrew from a 12-round main event DAZN was supposed to stream the previous week due to a shoulder injury.
Whyte-Wallin wasn’t rescheduled because Whyte, the WBC’s mandatory challenger for Fury’s championship, wanted to go straight to that title shot.
