Via Charles Brun: Dillian Whyte was anxiously awaiting a rematch with former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
6th place WBC ranking Whyte (29-3, 19 KOs) took to social media to send a message to Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) urging him, saying, “Let’s run it again.”
Interesting, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn didn’t give up about the idea of using Whyte for tuning purposes for AJ, even though he looks extremely poor and like a journeyman in five of his last six fights.
It would be wise for Hearn to go in a different direction instead of seeing Whyte as Joshua’s rival next summer. AJ was adjusted in March or April, so why in the world did he need a second adjustment to withstand the summer Whyte fragmentation?
Hearn should save himself the head & possible aggravation of using Whyte as a correction for AJ and instead pick one of these to use as a warm-up:
- Frank Sanchez – 1st choice
- Jermaine Franklin
- Otto Wallin
- Jared Anderson – no power
- Luis Ortiz
- Murat Gassiev
- Zhang Zhilei
- Martin Bakole
You could argue that 34-year-old Whyte is fighting at Derek Chisora’s level at this stage of his career, which in theory should rule him out as an option for Joshua.
Whyte’s last six games:
Jermaine Franklin – controversial decision
Tyson Fury – Defeat TKO
Alexander Povetkin – victory over boxers post-COVID
Alexander Povetkin – Lose TKO
Mariusz Wach – Whyte received a terrible punishment
Oscar Rivas – Dillian seriously injured in 12th place
That won’t help Whyte, 34, show how much he craves a Joshua rematch as it gives the impression to boxing fans that he is desperate and is looking for a final payday before when the career ends.
Heaven knows, Whyte avoided a career-ending loss in his final battle with Jermaine Franklin on November 26 in London, England. Despite appearing to lose the game, Whyte was given a questionable majority decision in 12 innings.
There has been backlash from the boxing public over Whyte’s gift decision by the judges.
“He was getting ready for his training camp, deciding who to add, who to bring in, and getting ready for that,” Eddie Hearn told. iFL TV about Anthony Joshua. “When that is safe, we will confirm his opponent because we want the coaching team to be present in the opponent selection process as well.
“Anthony will play by the end of March, the first week of April, and we want him to play three times this year. We look forward to bringing a big event to the UK in the spring.
“He trains non-stop,” Hearn said of Joshua. “I think the official camp will start at the beginning of the year and he will be ready to come back in the heavyweight division.
“AJ is the type of person who is constantly evolving. If there were things he could add to his training camp to help him grow into a fighter, that’s what he would do. But at the same time, he wants to get there, make sure he’s comfortable and this is a big step for him going forward.
“This is a run where we could see him become a three-time heavyweight world champion, but these next steps are important. I’ve always liked AJ in that fight, but we needed to make sure that if we were to fight someone like Tyson Fury, who’s a great fighter, he’s 100% ready.
Dillian Whyte calls for a rematch with Anthony Joshua on Instagram today… pic.twitter.com/zUMmOq9BJH
– Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) December 12, 2022
“That’s the plan. To get him into training camp, get the right team behind him to propel him forward to become a three-time heavyweight world champion.
“Whether it’s Tyson Fury, whether it’s Deontay Wilder, whether it’s Dillian Whyte, whether it’s Usyk. Whoever will go there, he is ready to do it.
“The lines of communication between me and [Deontay Wilder’s co-manager] seashell [Finkel]. We had a lot of talk, a lot of conversation. Until the training team is confirmed for AJ, we won’t make any opponent selections as we want input from the coach.
“So again, we have three or four people that we are talking to and are willing to try to move forward. We have to make sure the coaching staff are comfortable with that. That will be the plan for the next few weeks.
“He was ordered to fight Andy Ruiz,” Hearn said of Deontay Wilder, who was supposed to fight Ruiz next. “He is negotiating with various people against Andy Ruiz. So I guess that’s what he’s going to do next.
“At the same time, we want Dillian Whyte to play Wilder interim or AJ in the summer. We’ll have to see, but it looks like Wilder will fight Ruiz, AJ will fight late March or April, and Dillian Whyte will fight as well. I think they will all come together in the summer.
“Regarding AJ, we will do what is right for his career and growth,” Hearn said.
