As you now all know, I’ll be facing Oscar Rivas at the O2 Arena on July 20.

The Colombian was only on my radar about two weeks ago. Before we agreed to Rivas, there were other fights we tried to make.

talkSPORT 4 Dillian Whyte writes an exclusive weekly column for talkSPORT.com

We looked to make a deal with Luis Ortiz lots of times but he kept making all these stupid excuses. His team talk rubbish. Everything Eddie Hearn has said about them is true. They turned down £2million to fight me – he thinks he’s worth more than what he is.

Ortiz’s best win is Bryant Jennings who my next opponent – Rivas – knocked out in his last fight and he’s younger, hungrier, unbeaten and with a better amateur record than Ortiz. I don’t understand why people think Ortiz is some kind of bogeyman.

We tried to set up a fight with that joker Manuel Charr and even though he was talking some nonsense about me, Charr did not want it at all. We also wanted Alexander Povetkin, but they are supposedly saving him for Oleksandr Usyk. It’s harder to get fights done than fans think.

When it comes to getting the world title shot I believe I’ve earned, I’m staying positive and will just see what happens. I don’t really think about what I’m going to do next, just what’s happening now. With heavyweight boxing it could be over tomorrow, so you have to focus on today. I just keep fighting and see where it takes me.

Rivas will be a good fight for me. Everyone kept raving on about him saying ‘Tyson Fury doesn’t want to fight him, Anthony Joshua doesn’t want to fight him.’ I just said ‘hey, what the hell? Let’s have it’.

talkSPORT 4 Dillian Whyte will go up against Oscar Rivas in London in the summer

A lot of people said at the press conference that this will be the toughest heavyweight showdown of the year, with Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder taking on Tom Schwarz and Dominic Breazeale respectively. I’ll let the public decide that.

He’s top ten across the board, undefeated, competed at the Olympics and has pedigree as an amateur. He’s dominated and beaten Andy Ruiz Jr – who is now facing Joshua – as well as Kubrat Pulev. Anyone who doesn’t know who Oscar Rivas is, just type his name into Google and you’ll find out very, very quickly who he is.

I’ll do what I always do on July 20. I’ll be trying to knock Rivas out in every minute of every round. Anyone I’ve ever fought has either been hurt, knocked down or seriously wobbled at some point and I’m not looking to change that any time soon.

I won’t be the only draw on July 20

One thing I always champion is for a good card. You can’t just sell a fight on the main event only. It’s great when people come in early, have a few drinks and watch the fighters coming through. I like to give guys chances to show off themselves too. So having two heavyweights like Dave Allen and David Price square off on my undercard is perfect.

Once upon a time, I was on a David Price undercard and now it’s the other way around. I like to give fans good fights too and get them thinking ‘yeah, we get to see Dillian Whyte but Dave Allen and David Price too? That’s a good fight’. And we’ve done it before with Derek Chisora vs Carlos Takam.

GETTY 4 Dave Allen face-to-face with David Price ahead of their fight in July

I like both Allen and Price. I’ve trained with and sparred both of them over the years and it’s good that Dave Allen is getting his chance and he is turning a corner in his life. He’s had enough fights now where it’s finally time to roll the dice and we’ll find out a lot about him after it. How good is he? Is he a tough guy that just enjoys the publicity? Or is he someone that can go beyond that?

Allen joked in the press conference about how he isn’t as quick as Price, or technically sound or strong or as big and he said he’s scared of getting knocked out. I don’t think he’s selling himself short, he just doesn’t want to say too much and then it all goes wrong. He’s playing it safe.

Where do I rank in the heavyweight division?

Eddie Hearn named his top five heavyweights in the world last week and he had me at number three. He had Anthony Joshua at number one, Tyson Fury at two, Deontay Wilder in fourth and Oleksandr Usyk fifth.

Eddie had me ahead of Wilder, but he should have had me ahead of Fury as well. While Fury was off doing whatever he was doing, I was fighting and beating top contenders.

People will argue and say ‘ah, he beat Wladimir Klitschko’ but that was about a 1000 years ago and he hasn’t got a world title any more even though I thought he beat that fake, protected champion Wilder, who keeps running from me.

4 Tyson Fury’s last fight against Deontay Wilder in December ended in a controversial draw

AJ has beaten some good fighters and has most of the belts so he’s got every right to be considered number one. But if I was picking my top heavyweights in the world, it would be different to Eddie’s. For starters, of course, I’d be number one!

I’d have AJ at number two, Fury at number three, Wilder at four and Parker at five. Behind them would be Rivas, Povetkin and Ortiz. Those are the best names right now.

Dillian’s top heavyweights in the world ranked Dillian Whyte (26 fights/25 wins) Anthony Joshua (22/22) Tyson Fury (28/27) Deontay Wilder (41/40) Joseph Parker (26/24)

Pulev is garbage, real garbage. Usyk isn’t a heavyweight yet. If he can deliver in his debut against Carlos Takam, then maybe. We have to wait and see.

Tickets for Dillian Whyte vs Oscar Rivas at The O2 on July 20, including an impressive undercard, are available to purchase now from StubHub, The O2 and Matchroom Boxing. You can also watch the fight live on Sky Sports Box Office.