By Scott Gilfoid: Dillian Whyte says he referee Giuseppe Quarterone assisted former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (24-1, 18 KOs) in his recent March 31 unification fight against IBF/WBA champion Anthony Joshua in Cardiff, Wales. For the boxing fans that may not have seen the Joshua-Parker fight, the referee was stepping in all night long and breaking the two fighters when they would attempt to fight on the inside.
This seemed to cripple Parker’s game, as he was getting the better of Joshua each time they fought on the inside, and he lacked the reach to fight when they were on the outside. On the inside, Parker was belting Joshua around and had him hurt at one point. When Parker was forced to fight at range, he was eating jabs from Joshua and essentially helpless to do anything.
Whyte (23-1, 17 KOs) and Parker are fighting this month on July 28 at the O2 Arena in London, England. It appears that Whyte, 30, is trying every trick he can to try and get under the skin of the 26-year-old Parker to get any kind of edge that he can against him. Whyte will need an edge because he lacks the punching power and boxing ability that Parker possesses. If Whyte can somehow infuriate Parker enough to make him fight a stupid fight, then it helps his chances of winning. Whyte will still have his hands full against an angry Parker, but maybe he’ll have a better chance of winning.
”I believe the referee actually helped Joseph Parker out, because had he allowed them to fight on the inside, I reckon Joshua would have won by KO,” Whyte said to skysports.com. ”They were both happy and content. Parker was happy and content to lose, Joshua was happy and content to pick up the win.”
The way that Whyte is putting a different spin on the Joshua-Parker fight that runs counter with reality, it looks to me like he’s playing nice with Joshua so that he can improve his chances of getting a fight against him in 2019. The money that Whyte can make fighting Joshua is life-changing and if he were to upset him, it’s entirely possible that he could tell his promoter Eddie Hearn to tell Whyte to get lost on a permanent basis. I mean, it would obviously be a self-defeating move on Joshua’s part to get angry and never give Whyte a rematch. When I hear Whyte putting a ridiculous spin on the Joshua-Parker fight by suggesting that the referee was helping Parker, it just looks to me like he’s smothering Joshua with compliments so he can get the rematch. I doubt that Whyte really believes that the referee helped Parker, because that’s such an insane thing to say. Anyone that saw that fight could conclude from the first round that Parker’s entire chance of winning the fight went completely down the drain when the referee started pulling him apart from Joshua each time he was trying to mix it up on the inside. Parker had no chance once the referee started pulling him off of Joshua. The fight resembled a schoolyard brawl where one guy is saved by a teacher pulling the stronger guy off of him when the fight starts getting out of hand.