Via Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn is pleased with Dillian Whyte’s decisive 12-round win over Jermaine Franklin (21-1, 14 KOs) on Saturday night, and he says Anthony Joshua will be next for ‘The Body Snatcher’ in first half of next year.
(Image credit: Matthew Pover Matchroom Boxing)
As far as Hearn is concerned, it was a clear win for Whyte (29-3, 19 KOs) over Franklin at the OVO Arena in London.
Fans disagreed, many of them loudly booing the result right in the ring after the referee’s score was revealed, suggesting that they were in favor of Whyte with a score of 116-112. [8-4]116-112, and 115-115.
Hearn said that Whyte would have knocked out 29-year-old Franklin if he had had more time in the 12th round. It wasn’t like that for his writer.
It looks like Whyte fired all his ammo after knocking Franklin out in round 12, as it was he who reeled at the end of the game and not the other way around.
Whyte’s poor fitness hampered him throughout the match, not just in the 12th round. He looked like an old man who no longer had the stamina needed to compete at a high enough level to take down an enemy without being able to do so. he should have stopped.
Why Not face one of the elite heavyweights tonight. He was fighting an unknown guy with quick hands but not much strength.
If it’s Joe Joyce, Deontay Wilder, Filip Hrgovic or Daniel Dubois there tonight, Whyte won’t stand a chance of being saved by a questionable decision because those people have taken the old relic out.
Whyte looks like an old car with too many miles on it, and he is being taken advantage of by a younger heavyweight. Although there is only a 5 year difference between 34-year-old Whyte and 29-year-old Franklin, it could also be 20 because Dillian looks like a Fossils from the Mesozoic Era.
The years have not gone well for Whyte, as he was not the one who defeated Joseph Parker by a controversial decision or did the same to the journeyman Derek Chisora in their first battle. Whyte looks coldly slow tonight, battered by Franklin all night and in need of rescue thanks to the three judges’ strange scoring.
Of course, with Hearn wanting to host a match in the Matchmaking Room between the next Whyte and Anthony Joshua, none of those talented heavyweights were brought in for Dillian to fight.
Instead, the unknown Franklin was found and he surprised many people by improve Whyte and lost a controversial decision.
“Jermaine Franklin was brilliant, and I think it was a very, very close fight,” Eddie Hearn said. Boxing match following Dillian Whyte’s questionable 12th round majority decision over Jermaine Franklin on Saturday night in London, England.
“Dillian Whyte has to win the championship rounds to win the fight. I thought Franklin hit the box really well, but he got tired of the championship innings.
“When I walked into the ring afterwards, I said to Dillian, ‘It’s coming.’ ‘No, it’s not.’ ‘I think it is. I think you need all those rounds to win the war, and I helped you win the war.’
“A very good performance by Jermaine Franklin, as we all know. A quality heavyweight and a tough night for Dillian Whyte. Ignored by those who may not have heard of him, but we know.
“Talk to everyone and Dmitry Salita and the people in Michigan, this kid [Franklin] can really fight. He’s sparred with Tyson Fury and has had some rounds with Daniel Dubois. He is a very good heavyweight. He showed it off tonight.
“Dillian Whyte, with a new coach [Buddy McGirt], tried different things but ended up actually falling back to the typing that got him out of jail in the fight, quite frankly. For me, when you hit your body for seven or eight rounds, you have to switch it to header.
“That’s when he did that, he started to have some success. He hit him very hard in the tenth round, he hit him very hard in the twelfth round, and another round or a minute, and the game was over.
“Franklin canned really well. He’s very smart with a great boxing IQ, and he’ll be back. It was a great performance. He wanted to see Wardley-Gorman, and of course, he wanted to see Whyte vs Franklin,” Hearn said of Anthony Joshua in the stands.
“His next date is fast approaching, and he looks at those guys throughout the game, thinking, ‘Who gets this, I want the winner.’
“Dillian Whyte is the winner. Whether it’s in March or whether it’s June or July, I feel pretty confident that the fight will take place. He is ready to go. He is [Joshua] lick your lips,” Hearn said.
If Joshua knew what was good for him, he would have nothing to do with Whyte because the backlash would be huge if he chose him.
The only way Joshua gets any credit for his next fight is if he picks someone who doesn’t go to battle under a dark cloud of controversy like Whyte. Furthermore, Joshua can’t fight someone as completely shot as Whyte because he will be laughed at and seen as a cherry picker.
The only way Joshua won’t get smothered by the boxing world is if he picks one of these heavyweights for his next bout:
- Joe Joyce
- Andy Ruiz Jr.
- Daniel Dubois
- Filip Hrgović
- Frank Sanchez
- Bakhodir Jalolov
Whyte is fighting at Derek Chisora’s level at this stage in his career, which makes sense because that’s his level even at the peak of his career.
From the start, Dillian was never a good heavyweight, and the best wins of his career were situations where he was given questionable decisions in matches where he are likely to lose, such as tonight.
“He’s ready to go back to camp, and he’s ready to come back. For sure, every AJ game is a stadium game, especially with Dillian Whyte,” Hearn said. “He’s looking for a big year, three fights, and it’s going to be a great British blockbuster.
“I didn’t talk to him [Joshua] after the war, just in time. I said, ‘What do you think?’ And say, ‘I want both.’
“Like I said, Jermaine Franklin is going to be in the big heavyweight fights. It was a good performance, but Dillian Whyte was looking at AJ; he’s looking at Deontay Wilder. He’s looking at all those big names,” Hearn said.
