Dillian Whyte’s return to the ring has been pushed back from July, although Chris Arreola remains a possible next opponent, according to Eddie Hearn. 

Whyte and Hearn met before the weekend to discuss his next fight after he regained the interim WBC heavyweight title with a stoppage over Alexander Povetkin in Gibraltar. Originally, Whyte had been keen on a July fight in the United States but has decided he wants more of a break after a lengthy training camp ahead of the Povetkin rematch. 

Arreola was mentioned as a possible opponent after the two-time WBC title contender knocked down Andy Ruiz Jr before losing a unanimous decision to the former WBA, WBO, IBO and IBF champion in Los Angeles earlier this month. 

“We were looking at July, we are now looking at the end of August or early September, probably in America,” Hearn said. 

“When a fighter he wins, they often say ‘I’m going to have a couple of weeks off then go back to the gym’. But then they often realize they need a little bit longer. 

“We were talking about the Arreola fight. He had a good fight with Andy Ruiz and would be a good opponent.” 

With the present doubt about the Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua undisputed world heavyweight title fight, Whyte might also like to wait to see how that is resolved before making his next step. 

He had resigned himself to waiting until next year for his overdue shot at the WBC title, with Joshua and Fury having agreed a two-fight deal, but the potential collapse of that could push Whyte up the queue, either for a fight with Fury for the WBC title, or for a rematch with his old rival Joshua. 

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.