Via Barry Holbrook: Organizer Eddie Hearn is excited about bringing back heavyweight Dillian Whyte under the Matchroom Boxing banner, debuting with DAZN this Saturday night against Jermaine Franklin, with the chance to take on Anthony Joshua in a field bout campaign in the first half of 2023, provided he won.
Whyte (28-3, 19 KOs) and undefeated American Franklin (21-0, 14 KOs) will be in the spotlight this Saturday, Nov. live on DAZN at the OVO Arena in London, England.
Hearn said Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) will be keeping a close eye on the Whyte-Franklin matchup, as he wants a rematch with Whyte. Joshua defeated Whyte by knockout in the seventh round in a Barnburner match in December 2015 at the O2 Arena in London.
It was a fight Joshua had staggered in the second half and would have lost if Whyte hadn’t re-injured his left shoulder.
Hearn has repeatedly said that if Franklin wins on Saturday, he will be next to face Joshua.
“When you talk about the names in boxing, Dillian is right there. He’s top 3, top 4 and we’ve been working with him for a long time,” Eddie Hearn told. iFL TV about Dillian Whyte.
“It’s a match that has to be in 2023, in the first half of 2023, provided that Dillian wins on Saturday,” Hearn said when asked if the big fight between Whyte and Anthony Joshua will take place next year at at a stadium or not.
“As I said, [Jermaine] Franklin wants to crash that party. We had Dillian win on Saturday. AJ will be watching this match closely and he wants to fight Dillian again. It’s a natural stadium fight for 2023.
Hearn continued on Whyte: “We lost the fight against Fury, but we wanted to make sure he would team up with us again.
“People have been trying to sign him, but we won the race and want to continue that and move forward now to help him win the world heavyweight title.
“I don’t think he did justice with that shot [against WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury last April]and this is a really important fight for his career.
“So we’ve come back a long way and we have a lot of respect for each other. We’ve always made things right together and I’m looking forward to seeing him again under the Matchroom banner and launching DAZN on Saturday night.
