By Keith Idec
If Dillian Whyte gets his second shot at Anthony Joshua, Whyte is sure he can knock out the undefeated heavyweight champion.
Whyte might get his rematch with Joshua on April 13 at Wembley Stadium in London if Joshua can defeat Alexander Povetkin on Saturday night. London’s Whyte will be part of Sky Sports’ broadcast team Saturday night for the Joshua-Povetkin fight at Wembley Stadium, where Whyte expects Joshua to retain his IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO titles.
“I just believe that I can get into Anthony Joshua’s head enough, physically and mentally, for him to make the mistake I need him to make, so I can knock him out,” Whyte told Sky Sports for a story posted to its website Wednesday.
Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs) knocked out Whyte (24-1, 17 KOs) in the seventh round of their December 2015 fight at O2 Arena in London. The 28-year-old Joshua since has won four heavyweight titles, while Whyte has gone 8-0, including victories over former WBO champ Joseph Parker (24-2, 18 KOs), Lucas Browne (25-1, 22 KOs), Robert Helenius (27-2, 16 KOs) and Dereck Chisora (29-8, 21 KOs).
“The [first time] we fought, I knew going into the fight what chances I had because of the injury I picked up in training camp, and that was to lead him onto the left hook,” Whyte said. “I told him in the final press conference that the left hook is gonna be your downfall in this fight. I was very close, but unfortunately I had a lot of problems with injuries that didn’t allow me to connect when I wanted to connect.”
Whyte, 30, feels both he and Joshua, 28, have improved dramatically since they fought nearly three years ago, a few months before Joshua knocked out Charles Martin to win the IBF title. That might not stop them, according to Whyte, from producing an entertaining slugfest in their rematch.
“When me and him fight, who knows?,” Whyte said. “He might just revert back to type and then we can have a proper slugfest. We’ve both improved massively. He’s undefeated world champion, I’m No. 1-ranked contender across the board, so the style we’re gonna choose and the way we’re gonna approach the fight this time, it will be a lot different.
“Last time we were just young and upcoming prospects. But now we’re proper, seasoned professionals. Deontay Wilder, a lot of guys say they want to fight. But a lot of guys are using this thing to build their name, or to hype themselves. Not me. If I say I wanna fight, I’ll come to fight.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.