Via Charles Brun: Dillian Whyte is eager to shake off his confidence against Jermaine Franklin next week on November 26 so he can attend a rematch against Anthony Joshua in early 2023.
Whyte (28-3, 19 KOs), who has lost 2 of his last 3 fights, will face little-known heavyweight Franklin (21-0, 14 KOs) in a 12-round bout live on DAZN at the OVO Arena in London, England.
The feeling of authority over Whyte is worrisome because he doesn’t have to return to a high-paying bout like other boxers do after they’ve been beaten.
Instead, all Whyte needs to do to get him a huge payday ahead of Joshua is to defeat little-known Franklin, a boxer whose name is uniquely recognizable on his résumé. was a questionable 10-round split decisive victory over cruiser Jerry Forrest in 2019. Many boxing fans who witnessed that bout felt that Forrest deserved the win.
So instead of Whyte needing to beat a quality heavyweight like Joe Joyce, Frank Sanchez or Filip Hrgovic to fight Anthony Joshua, just beat Franklin.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn still plans to have Joshua fight Whyte despite recent knock-out losses to WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury last April and 40-year-old Alexander Povetkin in 2020.
Dillian would most likely have been knocked out by Povetkin for the second time if the Russian boxer had not returned from a bad Covid 19 case last year.
“I will fight Joshua tomorrow. I will fight him for less money,” Whyte told DAZN about his desire to rematch with Anthony Joshua.
“Whenever me and him fight, sparks come out. We just want to beat each other. “
“He has a strange way of throwing punches. It’s kind of crazy,” coach James ‘Buddy’ McGirt said DAZN about Whyte. “You sit there and watch. He has a number of things that he does to distract a boxer.
“You could say he can fight, whether it’s in the ring or out, because he knows what he’s doing. It might seem crazy to someone else, but it worked for him.
“I can honestly say that over the last few weeks we’ve figured out how to make some things work. Thank God they’re working.”
“He’s the best opponent at the moment,” Whyte said of Jermaine Franklin. “He is 22-0. It is very difficult to beat an undefeated person. He does not know how to lose. For me, it will be an interesting fight.
“He is very confident. He said he would knock me out and give me a rematch. A lot of people underestimate me. A lot of people don’t think I’m as good as I am. When they were actually in there with me, it was too late. ‘He punched a lot harder than I thought. He moves much better than I thought. He’s a lot sharper than I thought.’
“Thought and warrior, I really didn’t need to work in that department,” says Whyte. “After a loss is a good time to reassess and question everything, and try to improve some things. Me and my team felt these changes were necessary.
“My record shows that I have fought one dangerous man after another. I fought guys that no one wanted to fight,” Whyte said.
