British heavyweight boxer Dillian Whyte is pressuring Anthony Joshua to accept a rematch, eight years after Joshua knocked him out in the seventh round in 2015.
In 2022, there was reportedly an agreement that Jermaine Franklin and Dillian Whyte would fight each other and that the winner would face Joshua.
In November 2022, Whyte defeated Franklin in a close match but Joshua decided to fight Franklin. The British boxer went on to defeat the American boxer in a grueling twelve-round fight in April.
The fight between Joshua and Whyte was supposed to take place in the summer, but it now appears plausible that Joshua would postpone that fight until December to face former WBC champion Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia.
Due to the back and forth between him and Joshua over a lingering rematch, Whyte thinks that Joshua is not the same fighter who previously was willing to take risks.
“Inactivity is killing the sport and it needs a shake-up. I am waiting for my next fight — and was meant to fight Joshua after Franklin. Joshua and his team told everybody ‘the winner of Whyte and Franklin fights AJ’ — and then they boxed the loser,” Whyte told The Sun.
“And now they have petitioned for Frazer Clarke to fight Fabio for his title, got exactly what they asked for, and have bottled it. It’s a joke, they look around blaming each other, making excuses, talking up other fights further down the line. But anyone who sees Joshua sitting around for nine months waiting for a Wilder cash-out — or Clarke taking on some journeyman in a pointless undercard fight — will see a team that has lost its bottle.
“Joshua’s team is doing interviews saying he beats me in four rounds. But he can’t decide if I’m his dream opponent or his worst nightmare. I want the fight. I know that DAZN wants the fight, too, because it would be an absolutely huge event. The only problem we all have is Joshua. He has confidence issues and is afraid to take the fight.”
