By Sly Fox: Recently, an agreement has been reached between Anthony Joshua’s manager and Dillian Whyte’s. Through the past few weeks, rumours have been running rampant about Anthony Joshua (13-0-0) and his next few opponents. These all ranged from Mariusz Wach (31-1-0) to Gary Cornish (21-0-0) and even the semi-retired, former world champion David Haye (28-2-0).
Fresh off his spectacular TKO victory over the American Kevin Johnson (37-7-1), Eddie Hearn was finding it difficult to match his up-and-coming Super Heavyweight prospect against a viable opponent to test him.
By selecting Joshua’s amateur rival, Dillian Whyte (14-0-0), whom of which bested a young, unrefined Anthony in their 2009 tussle, we may see a side to the Olympic gold medallist that we’ve never witnessed; one fuelled by an old vendetta.
During their amateur bout, Dillian succeeded in knocking the less experienced Anthony Joshua down once and emerging the victor on points. Since then, both contenders have honed their craft as they made their transitions into the professional boxing scene. It appears more of the public have been rallying behind Anthony as opposed to Dillian; whose reputation may have been hindered after he was discovered doping. Nevertheless, this does not delay the fact both have been impressive as of late. With notable pro wins over the likes of Michael Holden, Kamil Sokolowski and Beka Lobjanidze, Dillian is set to arguably be Joshua’s toughest challenge to date; both physically and mentally.
If Joshua was to overcome Dillian, it would display to his critics that he cannot be burdened or labelled by a loss that took place several years ago. Furthermore, both Joshua and Whyte will be looking to go into the match with a burning desire to win for the sake of bragging rights. The fight is hoping to be scheduled for late November, which means A.J. will have to compete in September against an unnamed opponent of Eddie Hearn’s choosing. Whyte has recently suffered an injured hand and will no doubt immediately begin training as soon as it has recovered.
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