Via Mark Eisner: Tonight, veteran heavyweight Dillian Whyte will compete in a tit-for-tat clash with unnamed American heavyweight Jermaine Franklin in the first 12-round bout at London’s OVO Arena. The action on DAZN will begin at 2:00 p.m. ET.
24h Boxing News will update live & the results of the cards below, including the main match between Whyte & Franklin.
This bout will show whether 34-year-old Whyte (28-3, 19 KOs) is still an “elite” heavyweight, as his promoter, Eddie Hearn, calls him.
Whyte = gatekeeper
Losing two out of three shows Whyte is no longer at the elite level and more like a gatekeeper at this stage of his career. Hearn wants Whyte to be seen as a more elite qualification as he plans to take on Anthony Joshua in his next match at the stadium in the first quarter of next year.
However, the cold, hard reality is that Whyte is a gatekeeper, only capable of beating lower-tier heavyweights in the top 15 and below, but not good enough to beat anyone in the ranks. top 10 of the tournament.
You can’t compare Whyte with the likes of Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk, Joe Joyce, Joshua, Deontay Wilder, Frank Sanchez, Filip Hrgovic or Jared ‘Big Baby’ Anderson and expect him to win.
bottom card
Fabio Wardley vs. Nathan Gorman
Pat McCormack vs Christian Nicolas Andino
Sandy Ryan vs Anahi Esther Sanchez
Cheavon Clarke vs Jose Gregorio Ulrich
Mark Dickinson vs Gideon Onyenani
George Liddard vs. Nikola Matic
Thomas Carty vs Pavlo Krolenko
Chances of success for Dillian Whyte
“My prediction for Whyte-Franklin is that Whyte is world class. He’s proven to be world class. He’s only lost a couple of times at that level,” David Haye told Boxing matchpreview tonight’s heavyweight fight between Dillian Whyte and Jermaine Franklin.
“He also ticked the box multiple times, beating former world champions. He’s going to want to make a statement, so I’m saying Dillian Whyte by knockout,” Haye predicted.
“It was a decisive situation for Dillian Whyte, after losing to Tyson Fury by knockout in the sixth round. He’s going to want to establish himself as one of the top heavyweights in the world, and he obviously wants another world belt war.
“He has an undefeated Jermaine Franklin. 21 battles, no losses came from the US. He’s been here for three or four weeks now, which leads me to believe he’s here to win.
“Franklin has been training with Tyson Fury, so he is in a victory camp, and he is hoping to ask Dillian Whyte some questions. Is he past his prime? Is it worth it for him to continue? On Saturday night, this is where we found the answer.
“If Whyte wins this fight, he will have a chance against Anthony Joshua, and it will be the biggest fight in the world in terms of numbers and money. Although Anthony Joshua doesn’t have any titles, he’s got the money, and Dillian Whyte could score himself an out-of-the-world title fight for the ridiculous amount of money.
“He had a good payday with Fury at Wembley. He’ll get another big buck if he can get past Franklin. So there is a lot of risk for him. He really needs to make sure he’s going to have a great performance.
“I think it’s a great match, two young heavyweights will be competing,” Haye said of Fabio Wardley and Nathan Gorman in tonight’s co-feature match. “Gorman had a loss against Dubois, but it was at a high level.
“He lost when he went up to a high level. Fabio hasn’t fought at that level yet, so there’s a lot of unknowns. The fact that he’s in this fight and the fact that he’s mixing it up, he looks, when you see him on paper and when you see him on the scale, he looks like a future heavyweight champion.
“I recognized the future heavyweight champion when I looked at him. So this is his chance to get a good scalp. Gorman has been around for a while. I certainly don’t think the fact that he has so much body fat does not increase his chances of being an athletic, agile heavyweight that can compete,” Haye said.
