Dillian Whyte believes that his recent poor performance against Ebenezer Tetteh last December played a part in his being selected as the opponent for Moses Itauma on August 16th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Itauma Camp’s Strategic Pick
Whyte (31, 3, 21 KOs) is convinced that if he had slaughered Tetteh in one or two rounds, Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs) and his management would have wanted nothing to do with him.
“No. If I blew [Ebenezer] Tetteh away in one round, and the last two guys away in a round, devastatingly, they [Team Moses Itauma] wouldn’t take this fight. No way,” said Dillian Whyte to Queensberry’s YouTube channel when asked if Moses Itauma’s team would have chosen if he had annihilated his last opponent, Ebenezer Tetteh.
Itauma’s management is calculated, and they would have never allowed him to fight Whyte if they thought he was even 50% of what he once was. The fact that their initial target was Derek Chisora, 41, tells you everything you need to know about matchmaking intentions.
Despite Itauma’s deep amateur credentials, he’s been matched like an average prospect with no potential. That suggests that they’re focusing on building a plastic record. It’s typical stuff that we see from promoters nowadays.
“They saw me. I came into the fight out of shape. Mentally, I wasn’t all there where I needed to be. Supposedly, I struggled with Tetteh. Dubois blew him away in two rounds [correction: One round in September 2019],” said Dillian.
Itauma’s Calculated Opponent Choice
Whyte is probably right. If he had crushed Tetteh and Christian Hammer in one round, Team Itauma would have passed over him and put more energy into luring Derek Chisora to take the fight. He was initially Itauma’s target for his August 16th fight in Riyadh. Chisora was offered $2 million, which he turned down. When he rejected the fight, they turned their attention to Whyte.
“This is heavyweight boxing. Styles make fights. Also, the first time Tetteh came out of Africa was against Dubois. He was on a good run. Dubois bashed him up. The second time [against Dubois], he knows the road. He’s [Tetteh] more competent,” said Whyte.
Dillian sounds weak, trying to explain away why he struggled against the 37-year-old Tetteh. What he’s not saying is that Tetteh was blown out in one round by Frazer Clarke in his next fight after facing him last April in Birmingham, England.
This was Tetteh’s third fight competing in the UK, and he looked as bad against Clarke as he had in his bout six years earlier against Dubois. There was no improvement. The only conclusion you can draw from that is that Whyte isn’t very good. He’s lost a lot from his game and is just a sad caricature of the fighter he once was.