After weeks of negotiating, Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte’s clash on August 12 is a fight which both men need and the rematch has come at the right time in their respective careers.
The first contest had real needle and bad blood. There was a lot for both men to prove, and the British and Commonwealth heavyweight title fight did not disappoint.
Now, eight years after their initial meeting at the O2 Arena, the rematch is a must-win if either man wants to fulfil their world title aspirations and when speaking to Joshua at Monday’s press conference, he made it clear that it was his goal to become a three-time world heavyweight champion.
Speaking of the press conference, it did feel a little tame, but I would not be fooled by that. I was a little bit surprised with Dillian Whyte. If I was him, I would have tried to get Joshua fired up, the reason being that we saw how disciplined Joshua was against Franklin and how good of a boxer he still is when he sticks to a game plan.
If the same strategy is adopted against Whyte, then ‘The Bodysnatcher’ has no chance. Whyte’s best chance of winning the fight would be to drag Joshua into the trenches and hope he can land that big left hook. In order to do that, you need to plant the seed, aggravate Joshua in the buildup, but Whyte did not choose to.
Is this because he’s more experienced compared to 2015?
Whyte did show in the first fight the ability to rock Joshua and he can land that dangerous shot, but he will not be able to do that if AJ is picking him off behind the jab. Whyte will need to mix fire with fire, and while it is an extremely dangerous game plan, you need to remember it is the last role of the dice for both men, especially Whyte who does not have the same draw as AJ.
For Joshua, a win is imperative with a fight against Deontay Wilder on the table for later this year. If I was AJ, I would want to get the stoppage and knockout Dillian Whyte, and put an end to this rivalry in dramatic fashion.
But on the flip side, there is that huge fight against Wilder for more money than anybody can ever dream of. It could be a case where Joshua thinks ‘Let’s be smart. Let’s not ruin that fight. Let’s just get the job done.’
That’s the most important thing, get the win and set up what would be an unbelievable fight against Wilder.