By Charles Brun: Dillian Whyte is already impatient to get the rematch with former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
The #6 WBC ranked Whyte (29-3, 19 KOs) took to social media to send a message to Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) to urge him along, saying, “Let’s run it back.”
Interestingly, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn hasn’t given up on the idea of using Whyte for tune-up purposes for AJ, even though he’s looked incredibly poor and journeyman-esque in five of his last six fights.
It would be wise for Hearn to go in another direction rather than trot out Whyte as Joshua’s opponent for next summer. AJ is already getting a tune-up in March or April, so why in the world would he need a second tune-up against the shot to pieces Whyte in the summer?
Hearn should save himself the head & aggravation that would come with using Whyte as a tune-up for AJ and instead select one of these guys to use as a warm-up fight:
- Frank Sanchez – #1 option
- Jermaine Franklin
- Otto Wallin
- Jared Anderson – no power
- Luis Ortiz
- Murat Gassiev
- Zhilei Zhang
- Martin Bakole
You can argue that the 34-year-old Whyte is fighting at the level of a Derek Chisora at this stage of his career, which should in theory rule him out as an option for Joshua.
Whyte’s last six fights:
Jermaine Franklin – controversial decision
Tyson Fury – TKO defeat
Alexander Povetkin – win against post-COVID fighter
Alexander Povetkin – TKO loss
Mariusz Wach – Whyte took terrible punishment
Oscar Rivas – Dillian badly hurt in 12th
It’s not going to help the 34-year-old Whyte to show how needy he is for the Joshua rematch because it gives the impression to boxing fans that he’s desperate and looking for one last payday before his career is finished off.
Goodness knows, Whyte dodged a potential career-ending loss in his last fight against Jermaine Franklin on November 26th in London, England. Despite appearing to lose the fight, Whyte was given a questionable 12 round majority decision.
There was a massive backlash from the boxing public over Whyte’s gift decision by the judges.
“He’s getting ready for his training camp, deciding who he’s going to add, who he’s going to bring in, and getting that ready,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV about Anthony Joshua. “Once that’s secure, we’ll then confirm his opponent because we want the training team to be across the opponent selection as well.
“Anthony will fight at the end of March at the latest, the first week of April, and we want him to fight three times this year. We look forward to bringing a big event to the UK in the spring.
“He’s out training nonstop,” Hearn said of Joshua. “I think the official camp will start at the turn of the year, and he’ll be ready to bounce back in the heavyweight division.
“AJ is the kind of guy that keeps on evolving. If there are things he can add to his training camp that will evolve him as a fighter, that’s what he’ll do. But at the same time, he wants to get that in place, make sure he’s comfortable, and this is a big run for him coming up.
“This is a run where we can see him become a three-time heavyweight world champion, but these next steps are very important. I’ve always liked AJ in that fight, but we need to make sure that if we’re fighting someone like Tyson Fury, who is an outstanding fighter, that he’s 100% ready.
Dillian Whyte calling for a rematch with Anthony Joshua on Instagram today… pic.twitter.com/zUMmOq9BJH
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) December 12, 2022
“That’s the plan. To get him in training camp, get the correct team behind him to move him forward to become a three-time heavyweight world champion.
“Whether that’s Tyson Fury, whether that’s Deontay Wilder, whether that’s Dillian Whyte, whether that’s Usyk. Whoever it’s going to be to get there, he’s prepared to do it.
“The communication lines are good between me and [Deontay Wilder’s co-manager] Shelly [Finkel]. We’ve had a lot of talks, a lot of chats. Until the training team is confirmed for AJ, we won’t make any opponent selections because we want the input from the trainer.
“So again, we’ve got three or four guys that we’re talking to and ready to try and make a move for. We have to make sure the training team is comfortable with that. That’ll be the plan over the next couple of weeks.
“He’s been ordered to fight Andy Ruiz,” said Hearn about Deontay Wilder, expected to fight Ruiz next. “He’s in negotiations with various people to fight Andy Ruiz. So I’m guessing that’s what he’s going to do next.
“At the same time, we’d like Dillian Whyte to fight Wilder in the interim or AJ in the summer. We’ll have to see, but it looks like Wilder will fight Ruiz, AJ will fight at the end of March or April, and Dillian Whyte will fight as well. I think they’re all going to come together in the summer.
“In terms of AJ, we’ll do what’s right for his career and his development,” Hearn said.