By Barry Holbrook: Dillian ‘The Body Snatcher’ Whyte says he’s not quitting and wants rematches against two fighters who beat him, Anthony Joshua & Tyson Fury before he retires.
Dillian (28-3, 19 KOs) saw his 11-year dream of becoming a world champion crushed last Saturday night in his sixth-round knockout loss against WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in front of 94,000 screaming fans at Wembley Stadium in London.
Despite losing to Fury, Whyte believes it’s still possible for him to capture a world title if given a chance, but the fact that he’ll be retiring soon makes it improbable that it will happen.
The 34-year-old Whyte figures he’s got a “few more fights” left before he hangs up his gloves.
That means he’s going to need to get a fight against Joshua & Fury right away because he doesn’t have time to work his way back to facing those guys after three to five years.
“I still want to fight the best,” the 34-year-old Dillian ‘The Body Snatcher’ said to Sky Sports.
“Listen, win, lose or draw on Saturday, I would have a few more fights against the best guys and then retire,” Whyte continued. “Nothing has changed. We don’t quit; we just keep going,” said Dillian.
Joshua is fighting IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in a rematch on July 23rd.
If Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) wins, he might be interested in potentially fighting a rematch with Whyte if he can’t get one of these names to fight him:
- Tyson Fury
- Deontay Wilder
- Joe Joyce
- Joseph Parker
- Daniel Dubois
Given how poor Whyte looked against Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs), you have to assume that Joshua won’t be motivated to give him a title shot if he’s victorious against Usyk.
Whyte needs to come back from the loss to Fury by picking up wins over three or four highly talented contenders before Joshua will give him the rematch that he badly craves.
“I want to fight everyone I lost to again and try to avenge my losses,” said Dillian. “One hundred percent [can capture a world strap if allowed to fight for a belt].
“Even he [Tyson] himself said it, I will be world champion one day, so let’s see,” said Whyte.
Options for Whyte to rebuild his career:
- Daniel Dubois
- Frank Sanchez
- Tony Yoka
- Andy Ruiz Jr
- Filip Hrgovic
- Otto Wallin
- Joe Joyce
- Arslanbek Makhmudov
- Robert Helenius
Ideally, Whyte should focus exclusively on fighting the top five contenders because they’re the ones that will get him rapidly pushed up to the top of the rankings.
If Whyte does elect to fight a fringe contender, he should target 2016 Olympic gold medalist Tony Yoka or Robert Helenius.
Unfortunately, beating those two guys won’t be enough for Whyte to get pushed to the top of the rankings to entice Joshua or Usyk to give him a world title shot. Whyte will need to defeat two or three of these heavyweights: Sanchez, Hrgovic, Joyce, and Parker.
