Eddie Hearn: I want Anthony Joshua to fight Dillian Whyte next
BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk
Dillian Whyte has been offered the chance to rematch Anthony Joshua this summer.
The pair have boxed twice before with Brixton’s Whyte holding a win over the Olympic gold medallist during their amateur days.
But the South Londoner was knocked out when the pair faced each other in the paid ranks for the British and Commonwealth titles in 2015 at Greenwich’s 02 Arena.
Joshua has gone on to win unified world titles but currently has none of the major belts after losing them to Oleksandr Usyk.
Whyte, 36, challenged for the WBC world title in March 2022 but Tyson Fury had few issues before halting him in the sixth round at a sold out Wembley Stadium.
Whyte has fought once since, a majority decision victory over American Jermaine Franklin.
Matchroom Boxing promotes Joshua and its head honcho Eddie Hearn says the plan is for the Watford puncher to fight on August 12 and then in December in a lucrative clash against Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia.
Fury’s camp have also claimed they are ready to face Joshua next but the reigning champion has never managed to get negotiations over the line before.
“August 12 I’d like it to be Dillian Whyte,” Matchroom chief executive Hearn told iFL TV. “We’re not limited to Dillian Whyte – I just feels it’s the right fight. It’s a great fight. There are other options.
“Do we drop everything and hope Tyson Fury is real and that process is straightforward? Or do we continue with what we’re doing and lock this in? At the moment the preferred choice is to lock in those two fights.
“The Deontay Wilder fight, which is a lot more money than the Tyson Fury fight for September, still needs to be secured. It’s been promised that it is secured but there is still work to be done. AJ doesn’t believe Fury at all. AJ doesn’t want to be messed around by Fury.”
Joshua claimed recently on Instagram that he didn’t know about any negotiations to face Whyte again.
That led to an X-rated response from Whyte, who screenshotted Joshua’s post and responded on Twitter: “How’s about you stop being a b**** and let’s make the fight you ****ing weird guy, always talking s***, tweeting stuff then deleting. Be a man you little b****.”
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