Dillian Whyte holds a victory over Anthony Joshua in the amateur ranks, but he suffered a seventh-round knockout when the two fought professionally back in December 2015.
That being said, after watching Andy Ruiz Jr. shock Joshua via his own seventh-round TKO to become the unified world heavyweight champion last June, Whyte is confident that he could do the same if given the opportunity to have a rematch with AJ.
"If Ruiz can knock him out, I can 100 percent knock him out, because I'm a harder puncher than Andy Ruiz, pound-for-pound," Whyte told Sky Sports recently. "I've got better feet than him as well, and better boxing technique than Andy Ruiz. He's got fast hands, but his feet are slow. I've shown also in fights that I can come back from being down on the scorecards and I carry knockout power in the later stages of the fight as well, which is a big thing for a heavyweight.
"A lot of heavyweights can only get you in one to six rounds. If they don't get you early, then that's a wrap for them," he continued. "I showed you that I can get you Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4 or even Round 11 and Round 12, I can get you."
Of course, Whyte (28-1, 18 KOs) knows that Joshua asserted his jab to exact revenge on Ruiz and snatch back his titles with a lopsided unanimous decision in December. It's just that watching the original Joshua-Ruiz fight boosted Whyte's confidence.
Whyte has already shored up a mandatory title shot for the WBC championship by February 2021. If the coronavirus outbreak subsides in enough time, it's Whyte's hope that WBC champ Tyson Fury battles Deontay Wilder in their trilogy fight, with the winner facing Joshua for undisputed glory this year.
Whyte is set to face Alexander Povetkin on May 2, with Joshua slated to defend his titles against Kubrat Pulev on June 20, although the coronavirus outbreak could cancel or postpone those bouts. If Whyte gets a chance to share the ring with Joshua one for time, he just hopes that all the world heavyweight titles would be at stake.
"Imagine, to get one shot at all the marbles at once, how unreal that would be after all this nonsense," Whyte said, "and then out of nowhere, me and Joshua fight, I knock him out and became undisputed champion of the world."