Dillian Whyte isn’t the only one who can’t believe he still hasn’t fought for a heavyweight title.

Paulie Malignaggi considers it “ludicrous” that Whyte, based on the British heavyweight’s impressive resume, has never received a title shot. London’s Whyte (27-1, 18 KOs) is scheduled to fight Russia’s Alexander Povetkin (35-2-1, 25 KOs) for Whyte’s WBC’s interim championship July 4 in Manchester, England, but he has been the WBC’s number one contender for more than two years and still hasn’t had a crack at the WBC’s legitimate title.

“How Dillian Whyte has not gotten a heavyweight title shot in his career baffles me,” Malignaggi, an analyst for Showtime and Sky Sports, told BoxingScene.com. “It really baffles me. This is not the ‘50s or ‘40s or ‘30s, where you had certain fighters based on certain characteristics, like race, did not get title shots. I obviously don’t think Whyte’s not getting a title shot because of his race, but I think it’s utterly ridiculous that a guy that good cannot get a heavyweight title shot. It blows me away. There’s definitely no reason at all he shouldn’t have gotten a heavyweight title shot. It’s ludicrous.”

The 32-year-old Whyte has won 11 straight fights since Anthony Joshua stopped him in the seventh round of their non-title bout in December 2015 at O2 Arena in London. The native Jamaican has beaten several highly regarded or undefeated heavyweights during that streak – most notably former WBO champion Joseph Parker, Oscar Rivas, Dereck Chisora (twice), Robert Helenius and Lucas Browne.

Whyte won the WBC’s interim title when he beat Colombia’s Rivas (26-1, 18 KOs) by unanimous decision in a 12-rounder July 20 at O2 Arena. While Whyte continued to win, he continuously claimed England’s Joshua wanted no part of a rematch and that former WBC champion Deontay Wilder avoided him.

Mauricio Sulaiman, the president of the WBC, has explained that Whyte only became that sanctioning organization’s mandatory challenger when he defeated Rivas nine months ago. If he overcomes Povetkin, Whyte is supposed to receive his mandated shot at the WBC title now owned by England’s Tyson Fury by sometime in February, though that deadline could change due to the length of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Regardless, Malignaggi understands why Whyte has been so vocal about finally getting his championship chance.

“There’s a lot that turns me off about boxing and seeing things like that is definitely one of them,” Malignaggi said. “How has this guy never even gotten a title shot? How are you that good and you can’t say you’ve ever heard the ring announcer say, ‘Tonight, 12 rounds, for the heavyweight championship of the world?’ I remember for me, those moments when I would be in the ring for a fight and I was part of a world championship fight, and Jimmy Lennon or Michael Buffer would say, ‘This fight, 12 rounds, for whatever organization’s light welterweight championship of the world or the welterweight championship of the world.’

“That’s an earmark moment for you in your career to even hear that before the fight starts. How Whyte has never been able to hear that with a fight that he’s been involved in, it blows me away. He’s a very good fighter and he’s obviously earned it.”

Whyte and the 40-year-old Povetkin, a former WBA champ who is rated number nine by the WBC, were supposed to meet May 2 at Manchester Arena.

Their 12-round fight was pushed back to July 4 because of the coronavirus crisis. The Whyte-Povetkin card is expected to take place without fans in attendance to adhere to social-distancing guidelines. 

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.