Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora will face each other in a huge heavyweight rematch in London on December 22.
Standard Sport reported on Wednesday that an agreement was close after talks between Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn and Chisora’s backer David Haye, and the O2 clash was confirmed at 1pm on Thursday.
Whyte is the No1-ranked challenger for the WBO title held by four-belt world champion Joshua, who must make a mandatory defence of that title next year. But the 30-year-old Whyte is putting at risk a possible appointment with Anthony Joshua at Wembley on April 13 by taking on Chisora again.
Chisora will stake a major claim for a shot at the WBO title if he avenges his split decision defeat by Whyte in December 2016.
The 34-year-old hurled a table across the room during a heated press conference a week before that fight in Manchester.
The action in the ring delivered one of the most fiercely competitive domestic heavyweight contests of recent years and a rematch is likely to be a pre-Christmas sell-out.
Whyte (above) will be the slight favourite after eight impressive victories in the wake of his defeat by Joshua in December 2015 — with his most recent win coming against former WBO champion Joseph Parker, of New Zealand, last July. Chisora also looked in good shape in his eighth- round stoppage of Joshua’s former challenger Carlos Takam on the same bill at the O2 Arena.
Hearn has confirmed that Whyte is in line for a rematch against Joshua in April if no deal can be struck for the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO champion to meet the winner of the December 1 fight in LA between WBC champion Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury.
The scene is complex and Chisora would not necessarily be handed that April 13 date against Joshua should he defeat Whyte.
Hearn is instead considering a voluntary set of defences of all four belts against New York heavyweight Jarell Miller if Whyte is knocked out of the picture.
Hearn said: “Anthony has just done his WBA mandatory defence by beating Alexander Povetkin. The next one is the WBO and Dillian Whyte is No1 for that. If he gets beaten against Chisora, Jarell Miller becomes big in April.”
