LONDON - Dillian Whyte never expected to be fighting Joseph Parker next after a fight with the former WBO heavyweight champion "fell from the sky".
Whyte (23-1, 17KOs) will take on New Zealander Parker in a contest that was agreed within just 48 hours of negotiations between Eddie Hearn and David Higgins,
"I'm very excited, it's a massive fight," Whyte told ESPN. "It came out of nowhere -- it's not one that we planned. It's great that we got it sorted so quickly. Eddie mentioned it, we spoke about it and boom, it got made.
"It's great there's some people in the heavyweight division that are still willing to fight. [Last week] I believed I was fighting either [Kubrat] Pulev or [Luis] Ortiz. We were just waiting to see where we were going and what we would be doing but this fight just fell out of the sky."
Whyte had been embroiled in a boxing politics row having been ordered to fight final eliminators with both Luis Ortiz for the WBC title and Kubrat Pulev for the IBF strap, with the WBC's request for an eliminator that particularly stinging for Whyte.
As the federation's No. 1 contender, he believed he would be the next mandatory challenger for Deontay Wilder before Dominic Breazeale was installed. Meanwhile, the IBF route fell after a deal failed to be agreed, leading to a purse bid that Whyte's promoter Eddie Hearn lost.
But Whyte insists that those fights falling through might just be a blessing in disguise as he bids for a title shot.
"I let Eddie deal with all that," Whyte said, reflecting on fights with Ortiz and Pulev falling through. "He's the one that deals with the route. He puts the pins up and I knock them down.
"One would hope that this fight leads to a world title shot. I've done enough work. I think that this is the one. This is the one that they stop denying me [a shot].
"Whatever happens, I'm not going to cry about it because there are only two champions now instead of three and they are probably going to fight eachother. That's going to tie them up for the next 12-months.
"They may strip one of the belts, you never know. It is all about being patient and dealing with the job at hand."
"People have blessings, and this might just be one of mine."