By Scott Gilfoid: British heavyweight Dillian Whyte (16-1, 13 KOs) will be fighting this month in a tune-up bout against France’s Cyril Leonet (10-8-2, 3 KOs) in a fight scheduled for six rounds on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua vs. Dominic Breazeale card at the O2 Arena in London, UK.
This is Whyte’s first fight since having shoulder surgery on left shoulder last December. The fight card will be televised on Sky Box Office PPV in the UK. The end game for Whyte is a rematch against Joshua, who stopped him in the 7th round last December after Whyte injured his left shoulder in the 2nd round.
Whyte staggered Joshua in that round, but at the same time, he hurt his shoulder. Whyte wants to fight Joshua in a rematch with a completely healthy shoulder so that he can prove to the boxing world and to himself that he’s the better fighter of the two. Whyte beat Joshua in the amateur ranks in 2009 after knocking him down twice. It looked like we were going to see a repeat of that fight last December after Whyte hurt Joshua with a left hand in round two. However, the injury Whyte sustained in that round spoiled his chances of winning the fight.
Understandably, there not going to match the 28-year-old Whyte against a dangerous opponent for his first fight back after shoulder surgery. If Whyte gets thugh the contest with the 32-year-old Leonet in flying colors without suffering a setback with his shoulder, he’ll be fighting former heavyweight world title challenger Dereck Chisora in December for the British title. That trinket is of less importance than getting the victory and moving on to bigger and better things for the winner of this bout.
Whyte figures to win handily, as he’s seen by some boxing fans as a bigger, stronger, and younger version of Chisora. I agree with that. I see Whyte as the improved version of Chisora with better size, power, jab and overall boxing skills. I think there’s a very good chance we’ll see Chisora knocked out within six rounds in this fight if Whyte’s left shoulder is at 100 percent.
“I can beat him (Joshua),” said Whyte to skysports.com. “I popped my shoulder with one big hit. I’ve had so much rehab but I’m back. The dream for me is to win the world title. I want a re-match. If there’s another route I would take it, but I enjoy fighting Joshua.”
Whyte is now in the same Matchroom Sport stable as Joshua, so having a rematch put together by their promoter Eddie Hearn should be a snap. It would be a fight for domestic consumption, as it wouldn’t likely bring in high ratings in the U.S if Showtime Boxing chooses to pipe the rematch into the States rather than passing on it. Joshua will have to win his fight against Breazeale, and Whyte will need to beat the little known Leonet and Chisora.
We’re probably looking at 2017 before the Joshua vs. Whyte rematch takes place unless the Whyte-Chisora fight can get made this time. It shouldn’t be an issue putting together than fight. Chisora was just beaten by Kubrat Pulev in a failed attempt to win the EBU heavyweight title. Chisora isn’t exactly in a great position right now to bargain. I mean, yeah, he can drag his feet in the negotiations with Whyte if he wants, but it’ll be his loss if he doesn’t get the fight because Hearn will likely find another opponent for Whyte. Hopefully it’ll be an improvement over Leonet.
“Cyril Leonet is a good operator,” Whyte said. “He hasn’t lost in six or seven years. I didn’t want to come back to an easy fight. Eddie Hearn asked if I was sure after my shoulder injury, but it’s a big card so I want to come back to a hard fight.”
I think Whyte needs to take another look at Leonet’s record, because he lost in 2014 to someone named Kotatsu Takehara (9-9-3) by a 10 round decision. Leonet was also beaten by Mickael Vieira in 2012, and Newfel Ouatah. That was the second time Leonet had been beaten by Ouatah. Unless my match is off, those fights weren’t six or seven years ago. Whoever told Whyte that Leonet hadn’t been beaten in six or seven years was obviously mistaken. He’s beaten repeatedly within the last five years.