Via Barry Holbrook: Dillian Whyte wants to avenge bitter defeats by knock-out against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua not long ago.
The loss to Fury last April was special shy for Whyte, 34, as he had never played straight away in that match before being knocked out in the sixth inning.
Whyte (28-3, 19 KOs) avenged one of his losses from 2020, knocking out Alexander Povetkin in the fourth round last year. It was an impressive performance by Whyte, who knocked Povetkin out easily in Gibraltar in 2021.
Next on Dillian’s revenge list is Joshua, provided Whyte will win this Saturday night over undefeated American Jermaine Franklin (21-0, 14 KOs) at OVO Arena Wembley in London, Older brother.
Franklin, 29, is a great boxer, but he has never competed at an elite level, and he could be knocked out of his tournament with this big move on Saturday night against Whyte . Of course, with Franklin’s punch power and his focus on launching the upper hit, he could KO Whyte if he took a hit on the button.
Franklin has the advantage of youth over Whyte, and he is at least as strong as Povetkin and a better puncher than Fury. If those guys can take Whyte down, you have to give Franklin a real chance to do it.
“I want to be the heavyweight champion of the world, and I would love to have the chance to avenge my two losses [to Anthony Joshua & Tyson Fury],” said Whyte this week in practice to prepare for Jermaine Franklin on Saturday night.
“I avenged a [against Alexandr Povetkin]; I would love to have a chance to avenge the other two,” said Dillian.
Whyte didn’t tell Joshua who was next
“I’m ready to rock. I feel strong, fresh and revitalized,” Whyte told Boxing society. “Of course, he feels it. It was a big fight, a big event. This is the biggest fight of his life, and obviously, this is the big fight for me by far,” Dillian said of his clash with Franklin.
“I will do my best to defeat him. I’ll give it a try,” Whyte said of his rival, 29-year-old Franklin.
“Of course, they can canned. They won’t come and fight me. They said they would come and do this, that, that. I can also box. In heavyweight boxing, you can’t read these things,” Whyte said of Franklin talking a lot when not around him, but when they were together, he kept quiet, letting his team do the talking.
“A guy may look a certain way, but he comes and fights with his**. I didn’t read too much about that. It’s going down, honey. It is going down.
“No one has told me that yet. It is said in the media, but I don’t really care about that,” Whyte said of his supposed rematch with Anthony Joshua next if he wins against Franklin on Saturday.
“In the weight class, you can’t rely on it. You have to take what’s there because a win doesn’t guarantee me anything. It’s the weight class.
“This is a business. We look at all the options and everything, even if we don’t mind looking at them. I am a professional. I fought on Sky Sports; I fought in Queensbury, so if they have something to say, I’ll listen. That is all. I’m a professional,” Whyte said.
