By Charles Brun: Charles Martin tore into WBC interim heavyweight champion Dillian Whyte on Thursday, saying he’s “running back home” after losing his nerve about wanting to fight in the U.S.
Martin was hoping to fight Whyte next in America, knock him out, and snatch his interim WBC title from him then challenge champion Tyson Fury.
Whyte, 33, will now be fighting back in the UK on October 30th at the O2 Arena in London.
It’s believed that Eddie Hearn wants to match Whyte against Jermaine Franklin in what would be a gimme fight.
Hearn isn’t saying why he changed his mind about letting Whyte fight in the States, but Martin believes it was a lack of confidence on his part.
Former IBF champion Martin (28-2-1, 25 KOs) believes that Whyte had a failure of nerves at the last moment, deciding against fighting in the U.S after he grasped what was in store for him if he came over to the States and got knocked out by him.
Martin also notes that Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn is protecting Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs), as he doesn’t want to see him get beaten – again – and lose out on a MASSIVE money fight against WBC champion Tyson Fury. Heck, it doesn’t matter if Whyte loses that fight to Fury. He’d still get millions.
Martin: Hearn doesn’t believe in Whyte
“Dillian Whyte is running back home to the UK before he even steps foot in America,” Charles Martin said to Sky Sports.
“Eddie [Hearn] knows best. He thought, ‘Why to get my second-best heavyweight knocked out by Charles in America?’ I understand. Eddie probably don’t believe in him either.
Just getting the fight would be the equivalent of Whyte winning the lottery, and obviously, Hearn isn’t going to mess those plans up by putting Dillian in with a live body that can potentially knock him out again.
One way for Hearn to protect his hatchling Whyte is to steer him away from a dangerous shark in the form of Charles Martin toward a safer match against Americans Jermaine Franklin or Chris Arreola, who has lost his last two fights.
Of the three heavyweights that Hearn has mentioned as potential options for Whyte’s October 30th fight at the O2 Arena, Charles Martin is arguably the most dangerous.
Last year, Whyte was knocked by 41-year-old Alexander Povetkin in the fifth round in August 2020 at the Matchroom HQ in Brentwood, Essex.
Whyte avenged his loss to Povetkin last March in Gibraltar, knocking the former WBA heavyweight champion out in the fourth round. But the victory wasn’t as impressive as one would think, as Povetkin was coming off a bad illness, having been sick with COVID-19 in late 2020.
After recovering, Povetkin immediately jumped into training camp for the rematch with Whyte. Still, unfortunately, the Russian fighter looked like death warmed over when he came time for the fight last March.
Whyte did the right thing, says Martin
The COVID looked like it took the best part of Povetkin out of him, leaving an empty shell, which Whyte was able to batter for an easy stoppage win.
What’s unclear is whether Povetkin was rushed into taking the fight as quickly as possible by Team Whyte.
Whatever the case, Povetkin didn’t look well for the fight and had the appearance of someone that had rapidly aged in a short period.
“Next time you’re coming to conquer America, at least get off the plane,” continued Martin about Whyte seemingly losing his nerve choosing to return home to the UK.
“One minute Eddie Hearn says, ‘Dillian gonna conquer America,’ the next minute he is planning a fight back home.
“Dillian did the right thing because he’s been looking kinda shaky in his last couple of fights. I don’t think his chin is there anymore,” said Martin.
From a business point of view, Whyte definitely did the right thing by playing it safe and choosing not to fight in the States.
Had he fought in the U.S, Whyte would have been expected to face Martin to impress the American boxing fans.