BBN preview the Dillian Whyte vs Oscar Rivas heavyweight showdown
BBN writer Fabrizio Spagna previews the Whyte vs Rivas heavyweight showdown:
On July 20 highly ranked Dillian Whyte (25-1, 18 KOs, #1 WBO #1WBC) will be taking on the explosive Colombian Oscar Rivas (26-0, 18KOs #4WBO #8 WBA) at the 02 Arena, London.
In anticipation of the heavyweight clash BBN is breaking down each fighter’s strengths and weaknesses:
Dillian Whyte’s strengths
Dillian Whyte is a former kickboxing standout that made the transition to boxing in his early 20’s, famously beating Anthony Joshua in his first amateur bout. Dillian has gone from strength-to-strength since turning professional and here are his three best attributes:
- Intelligence: This isn’t usually the first thing that people associate with Dillian’s performances, but he is a student of the game. Dillian understands the sport of boxing very well both inside and outside the ring. The rematch against Dereck Chisora is one of many examples of Dillian’s maturity into a seasoned professional; having had Chisora hurt early on he opted to stick behind the jab and avoid playing into Chisora’s biggest strengths
- Diversity of punches: With the emergence of the giant-sized heavyweights over the past decade, some of the fluidity in punching combinations has been lost. Dillian is bringing that back to the heavyweight division. With a piston-like jab, huge left hook and the best body punching in the division, Dillian varies his combinations extremely well and keeps his opponents guessing
- Warrior spirit: Dillian Whyte doesn’t quit. Dillian is vastly improved since his professional defeat at the hands of Anthony Joshua, proving to be a throwback fighter that is comfortable up close, exchanging punches in the eye of the storm, a rarity amongst today’s heavyweights
Dillian Whyte’s weaknesses
For all his improvements, Dillian much like all fighters has his weaknesses. Here are Dillian’s three biggest weaknesses:
- Warrior spirit: The exact thing that makes Dillian so hard to beat may also one day be his undoing. At heart, Dillian knows what is needed to win but he wants to exchange, it is what he lives for. His tendency to exchange does get him into trouble; he was in wars against Dereck Chisora twice, Joseph Parker and Anthony Joshua and was hurt in each of those fights. When he exchanges he does get hit and whilst he has the ability to recover quickly it could be his undoing against an explosive puncher like Oscar Rivas
- Ability to box: Dillian is a vastly improved fighter since his professional debut. His jab and combination punches let him dictate parts of fights, but he fights for the knockout and while he understands what he needs to do to box safely he will be the first to admit that he is still improving. He doesn’t have the amateur pedigree and experience that Rivas has and he can at times struggle to control distance. Dillian has openly stated that he wants to box smarter but when a world-class opponent puts him under pressure he hasn’t shown the ability to safely box for a full 12 rounds
- Defence: Many fans claim that Dillian’s biggest weakness is his punch resistance, but this isn’t true. Dillian can take a punch, the Parker fight alone is testament to that, but the fact is that he does get hurt on a fairly regular basis. For all of Dillian’s improvements, his transition between attack and defence, when he is most often hit, is still an area in need of development
Oscar Rivas’ strengths
Oscar Rivas is not known to the casual fan, but he is no joke, holding amateur wins over the likes of Kubrat Pulev and Andy Ruiz (Anthony Joshua’s next opponent). Here are Oscar Rivas’ three best attributes:
- He is an athlete: Rivas is the kind of boxer that could have excelled in many sports, he looks like he is chiselled from stone and has the accompanying attributes. Rivas transitions from defence to throwing fast, powerful combinations as quickly as anyone else in the division
- Killer instinct: When Rivas has his opponent hurt he will chase the finish. In his last fight, he hurt Bryant Jennings in the last round and was relentless in his pursuit of a finish. If he hurts Whyte he will look to finish the fight
- Combination punches: Much like Whyte, Rivas is one of the best combination punchers in the division. He has a good right hand that he often throws over his opponents’ jab and an effective left hook. If his opponent is inactive for any period of time, you can be sure that he will be positioning himself to explode with a combination of fast, powerful punches
Oscar Rivas’ weaknesses
Rivas is very effective if you allow him to control the fight but, unlike Whyte, he can only fight one way. Here are his three biggest weaknesses:
- He telegraphs his attacks: Rivas relies on being close enough to his opponents to jump in and unleash his combinations, but they can be predictable. Rivas operates behind a high guard but shakes his hands as he is about to jump in and attack, a fighter of Whyte’s intelligence will pick up on this
- Recklessness: Rivas’ attacks are ferocious but reckless. He regularly finds himself out of position and vulnerable to counterattacks as the opponent moves to the side. This has happened frequently in many of his professional fights against far lesser opposition than Whyte
- He can be outboxed: At first glance, Rivas’ record looks excellent; a first round win over Carl Davis Drummond, a former title challenger, and a last round finish of Bryant Jennings are impressive results but they mask the truth. Drummond was already way passed his best and Rivas was behind against Jennings, having been systematically outboxed for the majority of the fight. Rivas’ win against Pulev at the 2008 Beijing Olympics was questionable. In that bout, a strong case can be made that he lost three of the four rounds, but due to the nature of points scoring in the amateurs he came out with the victory. In fact, there is also an argument to be made that he lost to Sylvera Louis (8-5) earlier on his professional career. Rivas will predominantly attack when his opponent is static or throwing lazy punches, but if an opponent has the ability to move, feint and keep him guessing he won’t open up
There is no fighter more deserving of a title shot than Dillian Whyte and he must be respected for risking that against Rivas. If Whyte can stick to a plan and use physical advantages he should remain on course to meet Joshua later this year, but Rivas will try his best to make this a dogfight and ruin the party.