Dillian Whyte views Saturday’s match between Anthony Joshua and IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois as a “50-50 fight” for their headliner at Wembley Stadium in London.
(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
The former WBC interim champion Whyte disagrees with the people who have Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) as the favorite because there’s just as good a chance of him losing to Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs) as there is for him winning.
Whyte gives Joshua, 34, the edge through the fourth round, but if he doesn’t score a knockout by then, it goes in Dubois’ direction. He feels that Joshua doesn’t handle pressure well in the second half of his fights, and that’s what Dubois will do.
The 96,000 fans expected to be present at Wembley Stadium will overwhelmingly support Joshua, but that may not matter. Whyte says Dubois follows instructions well, and he’ll carry them out if he’s told to do something by his corner.
The crowd cannot deter Dubois from carrying out the mission, which Whyte feels makes him dangerous. Dubois won’t second-guess himself when things are tough. He’ll keep following the mission until its conclusion. His ability to follow orders gives him a soldier quality.
“People say he’s the underdog, but I don’t think he’s an underdog. I think it’s an equal fight,” said Dillian Whyte to talkSport Boxing about the Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois clash on Saturday. “It’s one of those fights where it’s a 50-50 fight.”
The oddsmakers are going by what Joshua did in the recent fights, believing that he’ll be able to do the same thing to Dubois. However, Joshua’s last four opponents have been middle-of-the-road type opposition to rebuild his shattered confidence.
“Early on, dangerous for Dubois, but if he gets past three or four rounds, I think it becomes very dangerous for AJ, as we saw in the Andy Ruiz fight. He dropped him and then fell apart after. AJ doesn’t deal well with pressure late in fights,” said Whyte.
Joshua will be dangerous early, but so will Dubois. If Joshua can’t connect with one of his big right hands to score a knockout, like we saw against Francis Ngannous, things could turn sour for him once the contest goes into the second half.
“When you come out in front of 95,000 people and 60,000, 70,000 are rooting for AJ [it can be intimidating]. AJ has been built for this stage and this magnitude. He’s been involved in big fights and big crowds. Daniel hasn’t. So the advantage would lean towards AJ a little bit,” said Whyte.
In Dubois’ recent fights against Filip Hrgovic, Jarrell Miller, and Oleksandr Usyk, the crowd’s cheering for those fighters motivated Daniel, causing him to fight harder. He feeds off the energy from the fans, and it doesn’t matter when they’re cheering for his opponents. It works in his favor, and that’s another bad thing for Joshua.
“One thing Daniel does well is that I’ve noticed when you tell him, ‘We’re doing to do this. This is what’s happening. Then he can be very dangerous,” said Whyte about Dubois.
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