By Gav Duthie: Seemingly out of nowhere a pantomime villain has appeared in the middle of the Anthony Joshua story claiming he is going to knock him out. Enter Dillan ‘The Villain’ Whyte 13-0 (10) fresh off a victory over big punching Brazilian whipping boy Marcelo Nascimento. Whyte has fought 4 times since November 2014 winning all by knockout and is saying he is ready for Joshua now.
Amateur and MMA
To add to the story as earlier reported on Boxingnews24 Whyte boasts an amateur win over Joshua in 2009 which included a knockdown. This was one of only 6 amateur bouts recorded that he had of which he was undefeated. To prove he was born to fight he even had a MMA bout which he won in 12 seconds.
Where has he came from?
Whyte hails from Brixton in London where many young men turn to boxing to better themselves. After a dispute regarding his amateur stats he promptly turned professional quickly amassing a 9-0 record. Then disaster struck after he tested positive for banned supplement (MHA) and was given a two year ban in October 2012. Whyte admits he broke down crying on hearing the verdict. One could say it serves him right but delving into the story further you could feel a little bit sorry for him. Whyte an up and coming boxer at the time without an entourage of managers and advisers sourced the banned substance innocently from a local nutrition shop. The product is called Jack 3D a simple over the counter product advertised as a Micro-engineered pre-workout supplement. Unfortunately use of the drug increases (MHA) which earned him the ban. Whyte has wasted no time since his return and says he is ready for Joshua after these 4 victories.
Social media and promotion
He has been seen recently goading Joshua and Eddie Hearn on Twitter and is very keen for the fight to take place. Knowing the savvy business man that Eddie Hearn is he will take advantage of this as he knows the financial value of a good British rivalry. This story reminds me very much on the James DeGale and George Groves situation. James DeGale was the 2008 Olympic gold medalist just like (Joshua 2012) but Groves wasted no time letting everybody know that he beat DeGale as an amateur. Chunky DeGale promised he would cancel out that defeat but he lost again which took a couple of years for him to get over. Could the same situation occur with Joshua and Whyte?
When and Who wins?
I would imagine Eddie Hearn would like to try and build the profile of Whyte first and if possible add him to the undercard of a couple of Joshua shows. AJ is still recovering from injury at present so I would imagine he would at least want to reschedule the postponed Kevin Johnson bout first before this.
To be honest despite hyping this up a bit I see it as a bit of a mismatch in Joshua’s favor at present. I’ve watched the amateur bout on Youtube and it is truly awful and no indicator of Joshua’s skill level today. Both fighters are swinging wildly with very little boxing structure. Remember that Joshua only started boxing when he was 18 which was in 2008 so he was a complete novice at this point. Today I see a much more orthodox professional style boxer. Whyte on the other hand is still very very wild. He has huge punching power no doubt about that. I’ve seen him score big knockdowns with straight right hands and big left hooks. However watch five minutes of him and you’ll see him falling over trying to land a big overhand right and almost spinning completely when throwing his left hooks. Of course in the heavyweight game one punch can end a fight and Whyte is certainly capable but I think the jab and boxing ability of Joshua will prove too strong.
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