Dillian Whyte has been a major contender in the WBC division for a while, and having finally been given the WBC's blessing to fight with America's Dominic Breazeale, the British boxer looked to be finally on the right track to a bout with belt holder Deontay Wilder. 

Sadly for Whyte, the WBC this week announced that following Tyson Fury's announcement that he won't rematch Wilder, Breazeale has instead been promoted to fight the Bronze Bomber himself.

So what of Whyte, why was he not promoted?

The tale begins some two years ago.

In late 2016, a fight was ordered to find Wilder's next mandatory challenger. Alexander Povetkin and Bermane Stiverne would scrap for a spot in the ring with Wilder.

But following a failed drugs test for Povetkin (his second that year), the Russian was removed from the card and replaced with Breazeale, who would fight Stiverne on the undercard of Wilder vs Luiz Ortiz. 

So far so good, right?

Well no, because Ortiz became the next fighter to fall victim to a pesky drugs test. The news meant that Stiverne was promoted to fight Wilder in November as the mandatory challenger. 

In November 2017, Wilder beat Stiverne in a rematch and Breazeale battled past Eric Molina in a WBC sanctioned final eliminatory match to find the next challenger, making Breazeale the next to fight Wilder.

Over in Britain, Whyte was on the rise.

Several notable victories put him back on the map to challenge Ortiz to become the mandatory challenger after Breazeale. 

But instead, Whyte chose to fight Joseph Parker after the WBC failed to promise him a fight with Wilder even if he beat Ortiz.

Following the Fury and Wilder debacle, Whyte and Breazeale had been told to match up for a chance to be the mandatory challenger once more, but following Fury's decision to pull out of a rematch, the WBC division has once again ordered Breazeale to fight Wilder.

So after all of that, where does that leave Whyte in 2019?

Sadly for the British boxer, it now looks as though he will be twiddling his thumbs until another challenger can be found for him to fight so he can get his run at Wilder. 

Like they always say, boxing is a business as well as a sport.