By Charles Brun: Dillian Whyte revealed this morning that he’s split with trainer Mark Tibbs after working with him for the last four years. Whyte (27-1, 18 KOs) is now training in Portugal, and that makes it tricky for Tibbs, who’s gym is in the UK.
If Whyte is hoping that he’s going to make tremendous improvements with a new coach, he could be in for a letdown. Tibbs wasn’t the problem. He did the best he could with limited talent in Whyte, and he couldn’t transform him into another Joshua or Fury.
Whyte probably recognizes that he lacks the ability needed for him to beat the upper echelon heavyweights like Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder, and Oleksandr Usyk.
Can a new trainer help Whyte?
Being a one-paced plodder with stamina problems isn’t going to get the job done for Whyte when he steps it up a level in 2021. As such, coach Mark Tibbs is out, and someone will step in as the new trainer for Whyte. This move will likely be a useless game of musical chairs.
At this point, it doesn’t matter who Whyte brings in; they’re not going to change his fighting style or give him the stamina, speed, and power that he needs to beat the A-list fighters in the division.
It’ll be interesting to see how long Whyte’s next coach lasts once he loses to Alexander Povetkin or Tyson Fury. If Whyte looks bad against Povetkin, don’t be surprised if his new trainer is given the bums rush and quickly ushered out. And then another coach will be brought in, and it could be the beginning of an endless cycle of trainers for Whyte with none of them transforming him into the elite-level fighter that he dreams of being.
WBC interim heavyweight champion Whyte is getting ready for the defense of his secondary title against 40-year-old Alexander Povetkin (35-2-1, 24 KOs) next month on August 22. Whyte vs. Povetkin will be shown on Sky Box Office pay-per-view in the UK.
August 22 is a crucial fight for the 32-year-old Whyte because if he loses to Povetkin, then he’ll miss out on a battle against the WBC heavyweight champion. Tyson Fury currently holds the title, but he has a trilogy fight that he needs to win later this year against Deontay Wilder. The winner of that fight will face Whyte in early 2021.
Dillian is barely beating the B-level fighters
Whyte has just BARELY been winning his fights against the B-level opposition that he’s been matched against in the last four years. Dillian’s wars with Dereck Chisora are a perfect example of the limitations he has as a fighter.
Whyte has done nothing to separate himself from the guys he’s been beating lately. He struggled against all of these fighters:
- Oscar Rivas
- Mariusz Wach – C+ level fighter
- Joseph Parker
- Dereck Chisora
Whyte’s performances against those fighters showed that he’s at the same level as them talent-wise. If Whyte were at the level of Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, he would have dominated the above-listed fighters. You can argue that Whyte was lucky to beat Rivas, Parker, and Chisora.
Even the 39-year-old Wach gave Whyte the fight of his life last December, punishing him with sledgehammer blows for their entire 10-round match. Whyte lacked the talent to beat Wach with ease in the same way that Fury or Joshua would have done.
Dillian Whyte made this announcement of his split with Mark Tibbs on his Instagram site:
“Just to let everyone know Mark Tibbs and I are no longer working together as boxer and trainer.
“I’m training in Portugal and Mark has a young family and his own new gym in the UK. It means it just hasn’t worked out in the way we had both hoped.
“Mark came into my team four years ago and has helped turn me into the world-class boxer that I am today. Mark is a great trainer and I will always be grateful to him and his Dad for all they have done.”
Dillian needs major improvements
For Whyte to beat the best guys at the top rung of the heavyweight division, he’s got to change his game 100% from top to button. Dillian is likely looking at Fury and noting the improvements he made after replacing coach Ben Davison with Sugar Hill from the Kronk Gym. It’s an entirely different situation.
It probably wouldn’t matter if Whyte hired Sugar Hill and Andy Lee as his new coaches. They’re not going to be able to do with Whyte what they did with Fury. If Whyte bulks up to 270+ pounds the way Fury did, he’ll be even more of a slow plodder than he is today.
In Whyte’s last fight against Wach, he weighed 271 lbs, and he was glacially slow and a punching bag with arms. If the 6’7″ Wach had more talent, he would have stopped Whyte that night in Saudi Arabia.
You can understand why Dillian is replacing Tibbs, but I don’t think it’ll change anything. Whyte needs to improve his game between 40 to 50% for him to compete at the level that Fury and Joshua are at, and that’s not possible.
Dillian is too lead-footed to move around the ring the way Joshua did against obese 283-pound Andy Ruiz Jr last December. And as I mentioned, Whyte can’t do what Fury did in bulking up to 270+ pounds to use his size to walk down his lighter opponents.
Is there a trainer on earth that can help Dillian?
It probably won’t matter who Whyte brings in to replace Tibbs as his new coach. He’s not going to be able to beat the top two or three guys in the division, and changing trainers is pointless. Whyte’s gas tank is too weak, and his style is that of a plodder. He doesn’t have much variety to his game at all, and he’s predictable in what he does inside the ring.
If things come unraveled for Whyte against Povetkin, hopefully, he doesn’t blame his new coach. Whyte needs to look in the mirror and realize he’s not as talented as the likes of Joshua and Fury, so he’s going to struggle against B-level guys like Povetkin.
Whyte might as well train himself because then he wouldn’t have to make a change for when things don’t work out well for him against Povetkin or Fury.