American heavyweight Chris ‘The Nightmare’ Arreola 38-7-1 (33) has emerged as the surprise frontrunner to face Britain’s Dillian ‘The Body Snatcher’ Whyte 28-2 (19) at the O2 Arena in London later this year.
Eddie Hearn, who promotes the 33-year-old Whyte, revealed the news in an interview with talkSPORT this week.
Whyte was originally expected to box in the United States for just the second time following his third-round knockout victory over Malcolm Tan in their eight-round bout at the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska four years ago.
Whyte is coming off a revenge win over Alexander Povetkin in their rematch in Gibraltar in March when he knocked out the 41-year-old Russian veteran in four one-sided frames.
In their previous bout in August last year Whyte had Povetkin on the canvas twice in the fourth round of another dominant performance before succumbing to a Hail Mary left hook in the fifth frame at Matchroom HQ in Brentwood, Essex.
Hard-hitting Arreola, 40, from Los Angeles, California is another veteran of the sport. He first fought for a world title against Vitali Klitschko 45-2 (41) in 2009 but has recently shown he still has some juice left in the tank in entertaining fights against Adam Kownacki 20-1 (15) and former unified world champion Andy Ruiz Jr 34-2 (22).
Arreola lost both fights on points but in the Kownacki bout he threw 1125 punches, a heavyweight record in CompuBox’s 34 year history.
Whyte versus Arreola may not be the best fight out there, but it’s certainly not the worst.
“With everything opening up, [it’s] the opportunity for him to fight at the O2 again,” Matchroom Boxing boss Eddie Hearn said.
“It’s been over two years since he’s boxed in the UK in front of fans.
“Chris Arreola is probably the frontrunner.
“That’s the fight I like because Arreola brings a war every time he fights, he just had a great fight with Andy Ruiz, and Dillian wants to fight Andy Ruiz.
“So that would be a good statement to fight him.
“We’re gonna do another massive show at the O2, we’ve got a press conference tomorrow to announce some interesting news as well.
“Dillian Whyte back doing what he does best in all-out wars at the O2 as normality is upon us.”
Long-time WBC mandatory contender Whyte is still gunning for a shot at current champion Tyson Fury 30-0-1 (21) who takes on Deontay Wilder 42-1-1 (41) in a trilogy fight in Las Vegas on October 9.
“I don’t think he’s ever been content because we all feel like we haven’t got what’s fair with the WBC,” Hearn continued.
“But it’s like a broken record, isn’t it? That will play on in the background legally, but he’s got to go out and do what he does.
“Fight, entertain, have fun, keep pushing his cause.
“Fights like Arreola – that will be picked up on a significant level in America – are gonna keep pushing his profile and pushing the fact that he deserves a shot at the world title.”
