Dillian Whyte says he’s up for a fight against Anthony Joshua in his summer date at Wembley Stadium. The 36-year-old Whyte (31-3, 21, KOs) feels that a rematch against Joshua (28-4, 25 KO) would be the “perfect” fight for him.
The Bottom Barrell
Joshua, 35, was destroyed by IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois in five rounds in his last fight on September 21st. AJ needs a win, but he would be really scraping sludge at the bottom of the barrel if he chose British journeyman Whyte as his opponent. The British public would probably happily purchase Joshua vs. Whyte 2 on PPV, but the rest of the world would be disgusted by this abomination.
From Dillian’s standpoint, you can understand why he’s so desperate to fight Joshua again. He’d get millions for the rematch, and the money would make his retirement a comfortable one.
Whyte is already rich, with a fortune estimated at $7 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. A rematch with Joshua would likely bump that up to $10 million. Not bad for a career contender who has never won a world title.
Given how excited promoter Eddie Hearn is about the domestic-level scrap between Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn, he’ll probably go for the idea of matching Joshua against Whyte, thinking that the UK fans will love this fight. If Turki Al-Sheikh gets on board, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Joshua-Whyte 2 happens next. Joshua-Whyte is the type of fight that Hearn would likely go for.
A fight between AJ and Whyte would be laughed at by fans, who view both of them as being completely washed up and unworthy of watching now. A badly out of shape, obese-looking 261-lb Whyte looked beyond words terrible in his last fight against journeyman Ebenezer Tetteh on December 15th. Dillian had a lot of trouble beating this guy, and it was sad to see how faded ‘The Body Snatcher’ is at this late stage of his career.
Whyte has lost two out of his last six fights. He had a controversial win over Jermaine Franklin in 2022, which means Whyte’s record should be 3-3 in his last six fights. Franklin clearly beat him, but the judges gave the A-side fighter, Whyte, the victory. The fight was staged in London. Franklin is an American.
Whyte says he also wants a rematch with Tyson Fury, who knocked him out in the sixth round three years ago on April 23, 2022, at Wembley Stadium. That rematch has zero chance of happening. If the wealthy Fury does come back, it won’t be to fight the down-and-out journeyman Whyte.
Whyte Dreaming
“[Joshua] Sounds perfect for me. They don’t need to ask me twice. They talk about me as an option, but they haven’t said anything to me, so it’s just negotiation tactics from them. But I’m up for the fight,” said Dillian Whyte to Sky Sports Boxing about being willing to fight Anthony Joshua next in a rematch.
“If he wants to fight, then all they’ve got to do is call me. I’m always up for fighting AJ—no problem for me. However, personally, I think he’s finished,” said Dillian. “I want to fight AJ and Tyson again because they both beat me.”
Alexander Povetkin knocked out Whyte in five rounds in 2020. A year later, Dillian avenged his loss by stopping Povetkin in the fourth round in March 2021. Povetkin was coming off a bad case of COVID, and many believe he shouldn’t have taken the fight under those conditions. Had it been a healthy Povetkin, Dillian would have likely been knocked out again.
10 years ago, Joshua stopped Whyte in the eighth round on December 12th, 2015. Whyte was competitive for the first two rounds and then gassed out and thrashed. It wasn’t an interesting fight after the second round due to how tired Whyte looked.
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