Dillian Whyte made a successful return to the ring last night in Ireland, this on Saint Patrick’s Day, as he stopped journeyman Christian Hammer after three rounds. 35 year old Whyte, who was recently cleared to fight after it was found out that the positive drugs test he had last summer came about due to a “contaminated supplement,” punished Hammer for three rounds and the 36 year old was unable to come out for round four.
Whyte is now 30-3(21). Hammer falls to 27-11(17).
It wasn’t an especially good fight, but Whyte, having his first fight since November of 2022, simply needed to win, and he was happy to be back in there fighting. Whyte, looking in decent shape, targetted the body early and he managed to inflict enough damage on Hammer to force him to stay sat on his stool after just nine-minutes of warfare. Hammer, who has been in with everyone, was later called a “coward” by Whyte.
Still a big, easily recognisable name, Whyte may go on to feature in some further big fights yet. Joe Joyce, who won his own ring return on Saturday night, said afterwards that he would KO Whyte if he fought him. This potential domestic grudge match might prove interesting to plenty of fans. But Whyte, speaking with Sky Sports after despatching Hammer, said his main goal is to get a second world title chance (Whyte having been KO’d by Tyson Fury in his sole world title shot, this two years ago).
“I’d love to have one more crack at a world title. That’s the goal,” Whyte said. “I’ve done almost everything there is to do in boxing. I’ve been on the good and the bad. I just need to win a world title and then that will be the icing on the cake.”
In all honesty, it really would be some achievement from Whyte if he were to win a world title. Heck, it would be some big achievement from Whyte if he were to even get himself a second shot. As fans know, the two current world rulers, Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, are going to be busy for the foreseeable months, so Whyte doesn’t seem to have any chance of getting a shot for a long time.
But again, there are potential big fights out there for Whyte, including one with Joyce, maybe that rematch with Antony Joshua, or maybe Whyte could fight a Daniel Dubois, or even a Derek Chisora, in what would be a third fight between the two?
For now, Whyte is back and he is looking ahead to his next fight. Whyte’s trainer, Buddy McGirt, said after last night’s win that he feels his charge should fight again before the end of May.
