By Scott Gilfoid: #15 WBC heavyweight contender Dillian Whyte (16-1, 13 KOs) is hoping to get a rematch against British heavyweight Anthony Joshua (15-0, 15 KOs) in order to try to avenge a loss from last December.
Whyte suffered a left shoulder injury early in the Joshua fight that required recent surgery. Whyte is now planning on fighting in May or June, and wants to face either Dereck Chisora or Lucas Browne. After that, Whyte says he’d like to face Joshua next December in a rematch.
However, according to Whyte, he’s been told by Joshua’s promoter Barry Hearn that a rematch between them isn’t in the cards anytime soon. If anything, Whyte could get a potential rematch with Joshua in a couple of years.
“Joshua asked for the rematch but Barry Hearn said: ‘No, mate. You don’t want to be going near that fella’ again any time soon. Leave it for a couple of years down the line.’ If they want it, though, I’m down,” Whyte said to skysports.com.
It’s not really surprising that there is no interest from Joshua’s side for a rematch with Whyte. They just won the fight by a 7th round knockout last December, so of course they’re not going to want to keep Joshua stuck fighting the same guys he just fought. It probably doesn’t matter to them that Whyte was injured. That’s obviously his problem. In hindsight, Whyte probably shouldn’t have taken the fight with his shoulder problem. He should have had surgery or whatever and come back slowly so that he could have keep his unbeaten record intact. The loss now is a negative on Whyte’s career, and I doubt that too many people were even aware that he was injured.
Whyte needs to try and get a fight against Chisora or the best potential opponent for his next fight. I doubt that Lucas Browne is going to want to fight Whyte because he’s on course to fight for a world title against WBC heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev. He’s obviously not going to want to risk his hide against Whyte when he’s got a title shot in the back.
“We broke records for a British title fight and that was mainly because of me. Who’s he going to fight on pay-per-view next. Where does he go? He’s not ready for David Haye, Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury,” Whyte said about Joshua.
It's a great time to be a heavyweight can't wait to be back in the ring so much big fights out there #bodysnatcher pic.twitter.com/bZfEr0GVxu
— Dillian Whyte (@DillianWhyte) January 17, 2016
As for Joshua, he’ll likely wind up facing someone like Chisora or Robert Helenius for his next fight on April 9. If Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn wants him to fight on Sky Box Office pay-per-view, then they’re going to need to face a fairly big name if they want to bring in good numbers. I doubt that Chisora will be a big enough name because he keeps losing every time he steps up.
Chisora is a journeyman wrecker, but he falls flat when he faces top tier opposition. We’ve see Chisora now lose to Helenius, David Haye, Tyson Fury twice and Vitali Klitschko. Chisora would be perfect for Whyte because he’s coming off of a loss and an injury against Joshua. But as far as Joshua goes, it’s not a good fight for him to be facing Chisora because it could be on PPV. If you want the PPV money, it’s not a good idea to choose Chisora, because he still hasn’t rebuilt his career after his latest loss to Fury in 2014. Since that defeat, Chisora has been facing weak record-padding opposition, and hasn’t gotten anywhere close to facing a top 15 contender.
Whyte is going to need to prove to the boxing world that his performance from the Joshua was just a fluke thing caused by an injury. The only way he can do that is to rehab his surgically repaired left shoulder and get back in the ring to start beating the best possible opponents that his promoters can get for him. I doubt that Whyte will be able to face the same guys that Joshua can because Joshua has Hearn and his fights can be televised on Sky Box Office. Winning the gold medal in the 2012 Olympics definitely has helped Joshua’s career in the pro ranks thus far. Whether he’ll be able to continue to find success when he starts facing better opposition without injuries holding them back is another thing. Joshua was kind of exposed as a flat-footed fighter with little hand speed and stamina problems in his fight against Whyte. I think those are flaws that will be there with Joshua his entire career. He’s too muscular not to be slow and flat-footed. Obviously, Joshua’s stamina problems tie into having all that muscle and that bodybuilder type of frame rather than a lean track athlete type of frame like Deontay Wilder.
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