Dillian Whyte keeps talking about Anthony Joshua and about that which he is convinced would happen if he got the opportunity to fight AJ again (Whyte having lost via 7th round KO in a thrilling fight back in December of 2015). But Whyte says he is happy that Joshua is still talking about him, too.
Speaking with Sky Sports ahead of his US debut next Saturday on the Terence Crawford-Julius Indongo bill, “The Body Snatcher” said that Joshua “talks rubbish” and is not the tough guy he makes out he is whenever he is around. Whyte, chasing a world title, which he hopes will lead him to a return shot at AJ (who will next defend his IBF belt against Kubrat Pulev, and after that his WBA belt against Luis Ortiz; this the most likely scenario anyway) is sure he will get revenge if the second fight happens.
“Anthony Joshua talks a lot of rubbish,” Whyte said. “He pretends to be this bad, aggressive man whenever my name is mentioned, but he’s not that way inclined. Fight him again it will be a different story. He’s shown that he’s vulnerable when he gets put under pressure. You have to keep the pressure on him.”
Whyte is referring to Joshua’s tough win over Wladimir Klitschko when he says AJ is “vulnerable” when he is put under pressure. But as we saw, Joshua showed great character and got up and came back to stop Klitschko – could Whyte have done that had he fought Wladimir?
Still, a Joshua-Whyte rematch would definitely sell here in the UK, as fight-one was so good. It would be even bigger if Whyte could win a major belt himself, thus making a rematch a huge unification fight. Whyte and his promoter Eddie Hearn remain hopeful WBC champ Deontay Wilder (who recently called Dillian “Dill Pickles” on social media!) will take the bait and agree to defend against the vocal Brit.
In the meantime, Whyte, 20-1(15) will sharpen his skills against journeyman Malcolm Tann on Saturday night in his US debut.