By Scott Gilfoid: Dillian ‘The Body Snatcher’ Whyte says he won’t be upset in the least if unbeaten American challenger Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller (23-0-1, 20 KOs) rudely snatches the titles away from IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs) in less than four months from now on June 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Whyte says he’ll still want to fight Joshua even if he gets beaten by the 315 pound Miller, because he wants to avenge his loss to him from 2015. Whyte was knocked out in the 7th round by Joshua in that fight. Since then, Whyte has won his last nine fights against the likes of Lucas ‘Big Daddy Browne, Dave Allen, Robert Helenius, Dereck Chisora [x 2] and Joseph Parker.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he does beat Joshua,” Whyte said to skysports.com. “Joshua has got very gun-shy, and if Miller can absorb his punishment early, and bring it to him late in the fight, then I wouldn’t be surprised if Miller does beat him.”
Since his hard fight with Joshua has hard fight against Carlos Takam in 2017, Joshua has become of a boxer/puncher than a pure puncher like he was before. It’s pretty easy to see why Joshua made that change to his game. He was hurt by Wladimir Klitschko in their fight in April 2017, and he was almost beaten in that fight. Against Takam, Joshua was hit a lot, and looked poor in that fight. Once again, Joshua’s stamina looked bad against a guy that he should have been able to beat with ease. As such, Joshua is no longer letting his hands go like he once was. In other words, Joshua, 29, has become “gun-shy,” as Whyte says. It’s not because Joshua is incapable of fighting hard like he once did. It’s because he seems to realize that he doesn’t possess the stamina or the punch resistance for him to go to war against the better heavyweights. Against the weak guys that Joshua had been padding his ring record against earlier in his career, he could bum rush them and KO them with a flurry of shots. In some cases, the referee would just stop the fight due to Joshua throwing a flurry while his opponents covered up.
You have to agree with Whyte 100% in what he’s saying about Miller having a good chance of upsetting the apple cart if he can weather an early storm against Joshua, especially if he gets him tired. Joshua grows arm weary fast due to all the muscles that he’s carrying around, and unlike most fighters, it takes him several rounds before he recovers from the energy expenditure. This fight could play out just like Miller’s bout against Gerald Washington in 2017.
For the boxing fans that don’t remember that fight, Miller put it on the 6’6″ Washington from the opening bell. Washington looked good initially, and he even close to knocking Miller out in the 5th round after he flurried on him with 10 consecutive punches to the head. Washington then gassed out after the flurry of shots. Miller was then able to calmly walk the exhausted Washington down and batter him at will with heavy shots on the inside until the contest was stopped in the 8th round. Miller will obviously need to avoid getting hit with a flurry of head shots from a puncher like Joshua, because even if he can take those punches, the chances would be high that the referee would jump in and halt the fight unless it’s the type of referee that wants to see the action play out until the end.
“If AJ loses, I’ll still fight him, because it’s personal with me and him,” Whyte said. “If he loses his next 10 fights, I’ll still fight him. I just won’t be taken for a mug, that’s all.”
Of course, Whyte would still want to fight Joshua in a rematch if his career tanks, but you have to figure it’s all about the money though. Would Whyte want to still fight Joshua if he was an unpopular but very dangerous heavyweight? I think it’s a big no. Whyte has no shown no interest in fighting Luis Ortiz, who is very dangerous, but not a popular heavyweight. As long as Joshua still brings in the boxing fans and the PPV buys on Sky Box Office, Whyte will likely want to fight him. If that changes, and Whyte is on the top with everything to lose, and Joshua is no longer a ticket seller or a PPV guy, it’s highly unlikely Whyte would give him the time of day. Why would he? Whyte isn’t fighting guy like Ortiz, is he?
Whyte was unable to negotiate a rematch with Joshua, so now he’ll be facing WBC mandatory challenger Dominic Breazeale for the interim WBC heavyweight title. The World Boxing Council ordered the Breazeale vs. Whyte fight earlier this week, and they’ve scheduled a purse bid for March 19 at the WBC headquarters in Mexico City. The winner of that fight will become the mandatory challenger to WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. If Wilder faces Tyson Fury next, as many expect him to, then the winner of the Breazeale vs. Whyte fight will get to face the Wilder-Fury 2 winner, unless they fight Joshua in a unification.
Whyte complains that he’s been the WBC #1 contender for a year and a half, and he’s won the WBC minor titles [WBC Silver and WBC International] to earn the mandatory spot with the sanctioning body. For the record, these are the guys Whyte has beaten to capture the WBC’s trinket titles:
– David Allen: WBC International heavyweight belt
– Robert Helenius: WBC Silver heavyweight title
The WBC obviously made it easy for Whyte to win their minor level belts by having their straps on the line for his tune-up fights against domestic level heavyweight Dave Allen and journeyman Robert Helenius. Whyte didn’t have to beat anyone good to win those belts.
Whyte expects to fight the winner of the Wilder vs. Fury 2 fight in December, as long as the winner of that fight doesn’t suffer an injury. Whyte will need to beat Breazeale, who is very tough, and a lot bigger than him. Whyte expects the fight with Breazeale to take place this summer in June or July. Whyte doesn’t realize that he’s not looked good in his two fights with journeyman Dereck Chisora, and he was equally poor in his match against Joseph Parker. Those were fights that Whyte could have lost if the referees had done a better job of controlling his fouling, waiving off a bogus knockdown, and if the judges had done a better job scoring the first fight with Chisora. Those fights showed that Whyte is pretty much on the same level as Chisora and Parker talent-wise, and maybe even below them.