Dillian Whyte (19-1, 15 KOs) fought his heart out tonight in beating Ian Lewison (12-3-1, 8 KOs) by a 10th round TKO at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland. The fight was stopped after the 10th round by Lewison’s corner. He had taken a beating in the 9th and 10th rounds, and he clearly had nothing left.
Lewison, 34, turned his back on Whyte in the 10th round to repeatedly blow his nose. When Lewison did that, it was obvious that he had reached the end and the fight needed to be halted to save him. The win for the 28-year-old Whyte gave him the vacant British heavyweight title. That’s the good news. The bad news for Whyte and for his boxing fans is he didn’t look good. He was fighting with mostly his right hand in the fight, and it appeared that his surgically repaired left shoulder wasn’t at full strength. Whyte was not able to do much with his left hand at all in the fight besides jabbing.
Lewison, who did not look in great shape tonight, looked like the better fighter of the two in rounds one and two. However, starting in round three, Lewison began to tire and thrower fewer shots. Whyte then started to slowly take over the fight with him landing jabs and right hands to the head and body. Whyte attempted to throw some left hooks, but they looked weak and he couldn’t land them with any degree of accuracy. Lewison was still the harder puncher of the two in the early rounds. But as Lewison began to tired, Whyte dominated with his jab.
Whyte threw some nice right hands in the 4th to the head and body. He wasn’t doing much to setup his right hand shots in terms of using his left, as he couldn’t muster any power with that arm. It was as if his left hand wasn’t there at all. This imbalance in Whyte’s offense made the fight more competitive than it should have.
Lewison was exhausted and finished by the fifth. He had nothing left, and it was all Whyte from that point on. Whyte was still backed up against the ropes occasionally by Lewison, who remained dangerous even though he was gassed out. Lewison didn’t have the stamina to continue to throw a lot of shots. That’s fortunate for Whyte, because if he had to deal with a still fresh Lewison in the second half of the fight, he would have likely been knocked out.
What we learned tonight is that Whyte appears to be little more than a domestic level fighter. He doesn’t have the complete game to compete with the best heavyweights in the division. For Whyte to be able to fight against the best, he’ll need to improve dramatically. At 28, I don’t think Whyte is going to get any better.
Other boxing results on the card:
Scott Cardle TKO 6 Kevin Hooper