After a first-round knockout of Irineu Beato Costa Junior (17-5, 15 KO’s) on Saturday, undefeated heavyweight prospect Dillian Whyte (15-0, 12 KO’s) is looking ahead to his future.
Whyte is expected to fight domestic rival Anthony Joshua (13-0, 13 KO’s) in December. First, Joshua must beat another fellow undefeated fighter in Gary Cornish (21-0, 12 KO’s) when they go head-to-head for the British heavyweight title on Sept. 12 – and that may not be an easy task.
In what was supposed to be a tune-up fight for Whyte, ended up being quite the opposite. It wasn’t even a challenge at all – Whyte knows that – and as a result, wants to fight on the Joshua-Cornish undercard as long as he can find a good opponent.
Whyte is likely not going to find that type of solid opponent he’s pursuing with the fight just over a month away. He could find an opponent that’s slightly better than Costa Junior, but again, it’s a short notice deal, and not many solid fighters will take fights on short notice.
Yes, Manny Pacquiao and Vitali Klitschko are two examples of guys that took fights on short notice and went on to become superstars, but that’s rare in boxing. Look at guys like Eric Bone and Phil Lo Greco – two fighters that served as replacements for Roberto Garcia this year – and both of them got knocked out early by Shawn Porter and Errol Spence,
respectively.
Whyte admitted to IFL TV that he wasn’t trying to make a statement against Costa Junior, he just has a tremendous amount of power and folded him.
“I have heavy hands, and I hit hard,” Whyte said. “I wasn’t trying to make a statement. I was just going out there and trying to get another win. I definitely need to step it up a class now. I’m going to have a meeting with Eddie Hearn about who they’re thinking. If we’re not happy, we’re going to try and get somebody else. I definitely want a good opponent because I got a hard fight [against Joshua] come December. When I’m on form and relaxed, I can knockout any man real fast,” he added.
As long as Whyte and Joshua continue to bulldoze their competition, the closer we will get to the mega fight. Who’s excited!?
