Dillian Whyte is “devastated” by the cancellation of his fight against Otto Wallin after the British heavyweight contender suffered a shoulder injury.

The Brixton man has been forced to withdraw from his WBC interim title defence against Wallin, which was scheduled for Saturday October 30.

Whyte is currently the front runner to challenge WBC champion Tyson Fury, who was ordered to make a mandatory defence against the WBC interim champion earlier this month.

“I am devastated as I had a great camp, was in great shape, and had great sparring,” said Whyte.

“I was looking forward to knocking Wallin out and would have done so in the first half of the fight.

“I am devastated about not being able to fight on October 30 but I want to thank everyone for all of their support.”

Wallin’s promoter had earlier called for the fight to be rescheduled amid reports of Whyte’s injury, sustained during preparation for the fight.

“It’s very disappointing,” Wallin’s promoter Dmitriy Salita told Sky Sports.

“If it is an injury, then he should heal, and they should reschedule this event. That would be the fair thing to do.

“It would not be fair to the sport of boxing for Dillian Whyte to have an injury, whatever it is, and as a result of that, to be able to be mandated to fight Fury.

“Otto is ready to go to the UK today. He had a complete training camp and this fight guarantees a lot of attention and it was truly the right eliminator for the fight with Fury.

“The fight has to be rescheduled for a later date and the winner of that fight should fight Tyson Fury. Anything else would be unfair to the sport of boxing, and unfair to Otto Wallin.

“We’re definitely going to petition the WBC to make a decision.

“That’s what should be decided – the winner of Whyte-Wallin fights Tyson Fury.

“The WBC will pass what I feel is an important decision, which should set things right.”

Sky Sports Boxing schedule

October 24 – Top Rank in Atlanta
Jamel Herring vs Shakur Stevenson – WBO super-featherweight title

October 31 – Top Rank in New York
Jose Zepeda vs Josue Vargas

November 6 – Top Rank in Las Vegas
Mikaela Mayer vs Maiva Hamadouche – IBF and WBO super-featherweight titles

November 6 – BOXXER in Liverpool
Super-lightweight tournament

November 20 – BOXXER in London
Richard Riakporhe vs Olanrewaju Durodola
Caroline Dubois professional debut

November 20 – Top Rank in Las Vegas
Terence Crawford vs Shawn Porter – WBO welterweight title

December 11 – BOXXER
Savannah Marshall
Claressa Shields vs Ema Kozin

December 11 – Top Rank in Las Vegas
Vasiliy Lomachenko vs Richard Commey

December 17 – Top Rank in Montreal
Artur Beterbiev vs Marcus Browne – IBF and WBC light-heavyweight titles

December 18 – Top Rank in Glasgow
Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall – undisputed super-lightweight title