The rivalry between Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte is strife with the enmity going back to the amateur days. When the pair met back then, Whyte beat Joshua and now it seems that both men have been at loggerheads with each other since.
With various Twitter exchanges in the past, both men are on a collision course to meet each other soon although a hand injury prevents the past victor in facing the much talked about Joshua on September 12th. That hasn’t stopped both men exchanging words on Twitter.
Responding to a tweet from the a fan, Daniel John Harris (@djharris05), in which he tweeted, “Why don’t @EddieHearn or @anthonyfjoshua ever mention @DillianWhyte as a potential opponent?” This caused Joshua to respond to the tweet stating, “I’ve asked to fight him & he refused the date. My door is always open for dillian. When he is ready.”
This called for Whyte (14-0, 6 Ko’s) to respond. The Twitter conversation can be seen below:
Anthony Joshua went on to later tweet that all offers were being taken seriously and also caused promoter Eddie Hearn to get into the mix.
While the rivalry is evidently strong, Hearn claims that Joshua will bring out his dark side in an inevitable clash between the pair. Hearn told Sky Sports, “This is a fight that is inevitable. I’ve been talking to Dillian Whyte for two months regarding this fight and we’re looking to make it in November or December with the possibility of getting Dillian out in the meantime.
“Fights with hostility and bad blood sell and there’s enough in this one as you can find in any rivalry. I’ll be meeting up with Dillian this week to finalise the fight. The fact is these two don’t like each other.”
While both are relatively young in their professional career, Joshua (13-0, 13Ko’s) has surpassed Whyte with some devastating performances. Yes, fight fans may say that Joshua has not been tested as such but whoever he has faced he has dealt with in comprehensive fashion. With that said, being only thirteen fights in, it would be risky by both promoter and fighter to jump levels when a more progressive approach may benefit Joshua in the long run.
He has undoubtedly faced the higher quality opposition between the pair and has looked the more exciting fighter. While the amateur bout in 2009 saw Whyte the winner, many professional fighters will tell you how the pro game is a whole different ball game so reading into an amateur fight six years ago may be clutching at straws. It is evident that the amateur fight is no true reflection of Joshua’s skill set that is present today.
Since then, and from his early professional fights, Joshua has improved drastically while maintaining his conditioning and dedication to his craft.
Whyte is no pushover as his unbeaten record suggests and with the lack of promotion and TV coverage, he has not gained the fan base like Joshua has. Whyte is a tough powerful Heavyweight none the less and may be in the mix with some of the domestic heavyweights like Price and Chisora in the near future, although may need step up in opposition if he to face Joshua this year.
It will be interesting how this pans out, and once the pair face up with each other, it’ll just be them two blood hungry young fighters in the ring, and finally all bad blooded affairs can be ironed out once and for all.
– Oun Abbas Hussain / @ouney86
– UK Correspondent for Behind the Gloves.
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