By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten heavyweight contender Lucas Browne believes that undefeated heavyweight prospect Dillian Whyte (15-0, 12 KOs) has the kind of talent and punching power in his arsenal for him to defeat undefeated No.2 WBC heavyweight contender Anthony Joshua (13-0, 13 KOs) when the two of them face each other in December in what will be a grudge match.
Joshua and Whyte have had a lot of words with one another ever since Whyte beat Joshua in the amateur ranks in knocking him down twice. Whyte whipped Joshua bad in that fight in 2009, and him falling on the canvas and against the ropes like a rag doll. Joshua was able to come back and win a gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics, but it was a controversial gold medal with many boxing fans thinking that Joshua lost to Italy’s Roberto Cammarelle in the finals and against Cuba’s Erislandy Savon in his first match. I had Joshua losing all four fights in the Olympics.
“He’s [Whyte] coming back and he’s coming back with a vengeance, Browne said to T2T Boxing. “He feels if he can take Joshua out, it would be his ticket. I think he can. Before he beat him in the amateurs, so why not. I do know that Joshua is sort of an animal. I think he’s [Joshua] the real deal. There’s still questions looming, ‘Can he go 12 rounds and can he get hit by someone like me for the 12 rounds. Other than that, he looks like the real deal. He’s marketable, everyone wants to see him, and he fights like an animal.”
So there it is. Browne sees Whyte beating Joshua when the two of them square off later this year in December. There’s no question that a victory for Whyte over Joshua will be a huge positive for Whyte’s career. He hasn’t had the same fanfare that the 6’6” Joshua has because he didn’t win a gold medal like he did. But with a win over Joshua, Whyte will be put at the head of the class and likely put into Joshua’s spot at No.2 by the World Boxing Council. As for Joshua, he’ll have to go back to the drawing board and improve on the areas that Whyte is able to exploit.
An areas where Whyte will likely exploit, besides Joshua’s chin, is his stamina issues. Joshua has put on a great deal of muscle weight since he turned pro in 2013, and he’s now weighing 250 instead of the svelte 220 that he weighed in the Olympics. The extra muscle is going to be hard for Joshua to carry around for 12 rounds because it looks more like body building muscle rather than the type that fighters can use.
The thing is Joshua doesn’t seem to be any more of a puncher than he was before he put the muscles on. He’s lost hand speed and he’s punching with the same power. The only thing the muscle weight has helped Joshua is for when he bumps into his opponents. He’s like a football player now and can send his opponents flying when he bumps into them, but he doesn’t seem to be punching with anymore power.
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