By Scott Gilfoid: Heavyweight talent Dillian Whyte had the chance to see last Saturday’s fight between IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin and Anthony Joshua, and he came away from the experience disappointed in what he saw from the previously unbeaten 29-year-old Martin.
Whyte feels that Martin just came to give away his IBF crown, and he decided to give it away to the highest bidder. The money that Martin got for fighting Joshua was obviously more than he would have received had he defended it against the available opponents.
Anytime you see a champion volunteering to fight in a challenger’s hometown and country, it’s a red flag that the champion may be on his way to losing the fight.
Whyte fought Joshua last December, and had him hurt in the 2nd round. However, Whyte’s injured left shoulder, which he came into the fight with, gave out on him in that round. From that point on, Whyte fought with only one good arm. Whyte has since had surgery to repair his shoulder, and he’s currently slowly rehabbing. He’d like to fight a rematch against Joshua when he’s 100 percent healthy later this year if the fight is available. Unfortunately, it’s not likely that the talent will get a second shot at Joshua.
My guess is Whyte might need to wait many years before he ever gets another crack at Joshua. Even that, it will probably require that Whyte be one of the world champions, because I don’t see Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn letting Whyte anywhere near his golden goose.
“Martin was terrible. I couldn’t believe how terrible he was. He knew he was coming here to give his belt away so he just went to the highest bidder. Fair play to him, though – he got paid for losing his belt,” said Whyte to skysports.com.
Okay, I agree that Martin wasn’t good, but I don’t agree that he should have been knocked out in the 2nd. I thought Martin clearly beat the count. I had him up at the count of 7, and I thought the stoppage was bogus. He should have been allowed to continue because he was up and ready to continue fighting when the referee stopped the fight. That stoppage left a sour taste in my mouth because Martin was clearly up on his feet. We’ll never know what would have happened if the fight were allowed to continue, will we? I would have at least liked to see Martin given the chance to go out on his shield rather than having the referee stop the fight the way he did with Martin chomping at the bit to have the action resumed.
“It’s rubbish that Joshua is punching harder; Martin is just crap. Martin never had the desire and the will to win. I had the desire and the will to win even though I was injured in the second round. Martin never had it,” said Whyte.
Martin wasn’t that bad. I think it was just him using the wrong game plan for the fight. He was trying to wait Joshua out until the hugely muscled fighter got tired from throwing punches and carrying his bulky muscles around the ring. It was a bad strategy for Martin, and I would have never had him use that. He needed to hit and move all night long until the later rounds. Instead. Martin stood flat-footed in front of Joshua, not throwing punches and just waiting for him to hit him. The way Martin fought was perfect for a limited fighter like Joshua to win.
When you’ve got a slow moving, ponderous heavyweight like Joshua in the ring, YOU DO NOT stand in front of him not throwing punches the way Martin was. If you’re going to stand in front of Joshua, then you’ve got to at least be jabbing him and nailing him hard with fast power shots. Martin didn’t do that. He was just standing there and waiting. It was like watching an out of shape Buster Douglas fight Evander Holyfield in their fight in 1991. Douglas had beaten Mike Tyson in his previous fight to win his world titles. Douglas was expected to show the same skills against Holyfield that he did against Tyson. But instead of using movement against Holyfield and boxing him, Douglas stood right in front of him and was blasted out quickly.
“If the rematch is available in December, I’ll definitely have it. I want the rematch with him and this time I’ll be healthy. I was about 45 per cent last time,” said Whyte.
I don’t think there will be a rematch for Whyte with Joshua in 2016, 2017 or 2018. Like I said, the only way I see Whyte getting a rematch with Joshua is if he wins a world title. Even then, I think it’ll depend on how good Whyte is looking. If Whyte is looking really good and is injury free, I see him being ignored. I think Whyte had his chance against Joshua and won’t be getting a second one anytime soon.
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