By Mark Eisner: In a questionable outcome, a very old-looking Dillian Whyte (29-3, 18 KOs) won a questionable 12-round majority decision over the previously unbeaten Jermaine Franklin (21-1, 14 KOs) on Saturday night at the OVO Arena in London, England. Fans booed the outcome, showing how unpopular the results were.

The scores were 116-112, 116-112 for Whyte, and 115-115. Boxing News 24 had it for Franklin 116-112. Whyte looked nothing like the fighter he’d once been, as he was beaten to the punch the entire night.

Franklin, the younger, faster, and busier of the two, landed more shots and looked like the better fighter of the two. With the fight taking place in England, it’s not surprising that the home guy won.

Undercard results:

In a sloppy fight, Fabio Wardley (15-14 KOs) stopped Nathan Gorman (19-2, 13 KOs) in the third round to claim the British heavyweight title. Wardley was staggered and cut on the bridge of the nose in the third round. However, Wardley came back to drop Gorman twice in the round, albeit one of them being a slip and the second bring from a textbook right-hand rabbit punch to the back of the head. In the third round, Wardley dropped Gorman with a left hand to the head. Interestingly, went the action resumed, Gorman’s corner threw in the towel seemingly for no reason because he hadn’t been hit and looked fine. It was an odd stoppage because you’d like to have seen Gorman go out on his shield because he’d already proven that he could hurt Wardley earlier in the contest. The time of the stoppage was at 2:33 of round three. Gorman was warned for throwing rabbit punches to the back of Wardley’s head in the third. However, the referee failed to warn Wardley for doing the same, as he’d been landing shots to the back of Gorman’s head the entire fight, including the third. All in all, it was a good performance from Wardley, but not the kind of effort that would suggest that he’s good enough to beat any of the top-tier heavyweights. It was a Dillian Whyte-esque type of effort from Wardley. He’s arguably on the same level as Whyte talent-wise, but not a threat to the better fighters in the division like Joe Joyce, Oleksander Usyk, Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Andy Ruiz Jr, Luis Ortiz, Deontay Wilder, etc.
Welterweight prospect Pat McCormack (3-0, 2 KOs) defeated Christian Nicolas Andino (16-6-2, 2 KOs) by a six round points decision. The score was 60-54.
WBC International female lightweight champion Sandy Ryan (5-1, 2 KOs) defeated Anahi Ester Sanchez (21-6, 13 KOs) by a 10-round unanimous decision. The scores were 100-92, 99-91, and 98-92.
Cruiserweight prospect Cheavon Clarke (4-0, 4 KOs) kept his perfect record intact with a sparking second-round knockout victory over Jose Ulrich (17-6, 6 KOs). Clarke, 30, dropped the Argentinian Ulrich in the first round. In round two, Clarke knocked out Ulrich with a big uppercut. The contest was then halted by referee Reece Carter at 0:32 of round two.
Middleweight prospect Mark Dickinson (4-0, 1 KOs) beat Gideon Onyenani (4-3) by a six-round points decision. The score by referee Reece Carter was 59-56.

Preview: This fight will show whether the 34-year-old Dillian Whyte (28-3, 19 KOs) is still an “elite” level heavyweight, as his promoter, Eddie Hearn, still calls him.

Whyte = gatekeeper

Losing two out of three fights suggests that Whyte is no longer elite-level and is more of a gatekeeper at this career stage. Hearn would rather Whyte be viewed as an elite-level guy because he intends on matching him against Anthony Joshua next in a stadium fight in the first quarter of next year.

Still, the cold, harsh reality is Whyte is a gatekeeper, only capable of beating the lower tier heavyweights in the top 15 and below, but not good enough to beat anyone ranked in the top 10 in the division.

You can’t match Whyte against guys like Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk, Joe Joyce, Joshua, Deontay Wilder, Frank Sanchez, Filip Hrgovic, or Jared ‘Big Baby’ Anderson and expect him to win.

Undercard

Fabio Wardley vs. Nathan Gorman
Pat McCormack vs. Christian Nicolas Andino
Sandy Ryan vs. Anahi Esther Sanchez
Cheavon Clarke vs. Jose Gregorio Ulrich
Mark Dickinson vs. Gideon Onyenani
George Liddard vs. Nikola Matic
Thomas Carty vs. Pavlo Krolenko

Make-or-break for Dillian Whyte

“My prediction for Whyte-Franklin is Whyte is world-class. He’s proven at world-class. He’s only lost a couple of times at that level,” said David Haye to Matchroom Boxing, previewing tonight’s heavyweight match between Dillian Whyte and Jermaine Franklin.

“He’s also ticked the box many times, beaten former world champions. He’s going to want to make a statement, so I’m saying Dillian Whyte by knockout,” predicts Haye.

“It’s a make-or-break situation for Dillian Whyte, coming off a loss to Tyson Fury by sixth-round knockout. He’s going to want to establish himself as one of the top heavyweights in the world, and he obviously wants another world title fight.

“He’s got an unbeaten Jermaine Franklin. 21 fights, no losses coming over from America. He’s been here for three or four weeks now, which lets me believe he’s coming here to win.

“Franklin has been training with Tyson Fury, so he’s been in a winning camp, and he’s hopefully going to ask Dillian Whyte some questions. Is he past his prime? Is it worth him continuing? On Saturday night, this is where we find the answers.

“If Whyte wins this fight, it’ll put him in the pole position to fight Anthony Joshua, and that is the biggest fight in the world numbers-wise and money-wise. Although Anthony Joshua doesn’t have any titles, he’s the money man, and Dillian Whyte could score himself a non-world title fight for ridiculous money.

“He’s had a massive payday with Fury at Wembley. He’s going to get another massive payday if he can get past Franklin. So there’s so much at stake for him. He really needs to make sure he puts on a great performance.

“I think it’s a great match-up, two young heavyweights going at it,” Haye said about the Fabio Wardley vs. Nathan Gorman fight in the co-feature bout tonight. “Gorman has that one loss to Dubois, but that was at a high level.

“He lost as he moved up to high levels. Fabio hasn’t fought at that level yet, so there are a lot of unknowns. The fact that he’s taking this fight and the fact that he’s mixing it up, he looks, when you see him on paper, and when you see him on the scales, he looks like a future heavyweight champion.

“I get that future heavyweight champion when I’m looking at him. So this is his opportunity to get a good scalp. Gorman has been around for a while. I definitely thought that with him coming with so much body fat doesn’t increase his chances of being an agile, athletic heavyweight that can go,” said Haye.

Veteran heavyweight Dillian Whyte fights tonight in a make-or-break clash against unknown American heavyweight Jermaine Franklin in a 12-round headliner at the OVO Arena in London. The action on DAZN will start at 2:00 p.m. ET.