By Keith Idec

Nothing Deontay Wilder saw Saturday or at any other point of Dillian Whyte’s career makes him hesitant to fight Whyte.

If Wilder were to agree to make his next title defense against Whyte, though, that contract would need to assure the unbeaten WBC heavyweight champion that a fight against Anthony Joshua would come next. Eddie Hearn promotes Joshua and Whyte, which makes Wilder’s proposition realistic.

Otherwise, however, Wilder won’t consider Whyte as his next opponent. Hearn’s insistence on Wilder-Whyte taking place next is among the reasons Wilder decided against attending the Joshua-Joseph Parker heavyweight title unification fight Saturday night at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales (Sky Sports Box Office; Showtime).

Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) had agreed to work as a guest analyst for Sky Sports’ coverage of Joshua-Parker. Sensing Whyte would be the focus of his trip to Cardiff, and that Joshua and Hearn weren’t willing to allow him & Joshua to hype their much-discussed showdown, Wilder canceled his travel plans.

“They put Joshua on the end of that contract [to fight Whyte], it’s a fight,” Wilder told BoxingScene.com on Wednesday. “It’s a fight. We’ll bring Dillian Whyte right here to America, and we’ll whip his ass. That’s easy. This is not hard. None of this stuff is really hard. They’re making it hard. It’s not hard on our part. It’s hard on their part because there’s so much to lose.”

Whyte (23-1, 17 KOs), a longtime London resident who was born in Jamaica, maintained his status as the WBC’s No. 1 heavyweight contender by knocking out Australia’s Lucas Browne (25-1, 22 KOs) in the sixth round Saturday night at O2 Arena in London. The WBC hasn’t declared Whyte the mandatory challenger for Wilder’s title, thus the Tuscaloosa, Alabama, native is free to make a voluntary defense next.

Even if the WBC names Whyte as Wilder’s mandatory challenger, Wilder would have plenty of time to make that mandatory defense. Wilder’s most recent mandatory defense was made November 4, when he knocked out former WBC champ Bermane Stiverne in the first round of their rematch at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Hearn told iFL TV during an interview Tuesday that he has increased his offer to Wilder for a fight against Whyte. That undisclosed offer hinges on Wilder-Whyte taking place in the United Kingdom.

Wilder won’t budge from his stance that he won’t make an optional defense versus Whyte unless that contract stipulates that he’ll get England’s Joshua next, assuming the heavily favored IBF/IBO/WBA champ overcomes New Zealand’s Parker (24-0, 18 KOs), the WBO champ.

“That’s why he’s so mad, because his plans have been derailed,” Wilder said regarding Hearn. “It backfired on him. It wasn’t never about me and Joshua. It was about me and his other fighter. We’re just not in the business of that. I have no problem fighting whoever he wants me to fight, as long as he puts Joshua on the end of that contract. I’m fine with that. Even if he wants me to fight his other fighter, Dillian Whyte, I don’t have a problem with it. Let him fight [Luis] Ortiz, and if he beats Ortiz, I’ll fight him. Or put Joshua on the end of the contract, and then I’ll fight him.

“Other than that, Dillian Whyte is just gonna be another guy. Even when he gets in the mandatory position, I still have a year. Right now, I’m up for a voluntary [title defense]. So as they make me wait, I’m gonna make them guys wait. We’re gonna continue to do our thing here in America and build in America, and that’s how it’s gonna go.”

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