Whyte: I Hope Joshua Wins, Then We Rematch For a World Title

By Edward Chaykovsky

Dillian Whyte is hoping that his domestic rival, Olympic gold medal winner Anthony Joshua, comes away with a world title when he challenges IBF heavyweight king Charles Martin on April 9th at the O2 in London.

Whyte and Joshua went to ware last December in a fight that saw Joshua rocked early, recover, and then come back to score a vicious knockout of Whyte in the seventh round. Whyte (16-1, 13KOs) injured his shoulder during the fight and recently had surgery.

Joshua (15-0, 15KOs) vs. Martin (23-0-1, 21KOs) will headline a Sky Sports Box Office event.

Whyte was not shocked by the news of Joshua fighting for a world title so soon, because he feels the unbeaten boxer's handlers view Martin as the weakest link among the heavyweight champions.

Martin captured the title last month with a third round TKO over Czar Glazkov at the Barlcays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Whyte told Sky Sports: "I'm not surprised. At the end of the day, before he fought me they were saying he was ready for Wladimir Klitschko and Tyson Fury. They wouldn't have taken the fight with Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury. In their mind, Martin is the weakest of the world champions. We'll see. Martin is a big guy, 6ft 5in and a southpaw. He packs a punch but he's also untested at the top. His biggest fight was against Vyacheslav Glazkov and Glazkov got injured early in the fight. There's still a lot that's not known about him.

"I think it's a 50-50 fight because both of them are around the same level. They seem to have the same KO ratio. Charles is a southpaw and like I've said from day one, Joshua doesn't see punches coming from his right side. Off his left side, he sees the punches well and reads them well but it's not the same off his right side. Martin is a southpaw as well, so he'll try and use that to his advantage."

Whyte is still very eager to get Joshua in the ring for a rematch - and would love to have a world title at stake in that fight.

"The rematch is something I want with or without a world title. If it's with a world title, that would be massive - especially as he went from our fight straight to the world title fight. Then we could have the rematch in the next 12-18 months. I proved I'm world class and I'm more than capable of winning a world title when the time comes. It'd be great if he won and we can get it on. A rematch would be mega for a world title," Whyte said.