Veteran Dillian Whyte says he is capable of pulling off a surprise against his fellow Briton Moses Itauma, the bright young star of heavyweight boxing being lined up to take on Oleksandr Usyk.
Whyte and Itauma are due to fight in Riyadh on 16 August. Itauma, aged 20, little more than half the age of the 37-year-old Whyte, has racked up a flawless 12-0 record in his professional career that has spanned just over two years.
Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, which owns Riyadh Season, has said he would like to make Itauma face Usyk, the undisputed world heavyweight champion, next. Many pundits and ex-professionals say Itauma will be the next man to rule over the heavyweight division, and see the Whyte fight as a stepping stone.
Whyte admitted there was a lot of excitement around Itauma, but added: “We’ve seen it time and time again where these guys are built up, they’re knocking everybody out, they’re prospects and stuff. We have to see what happens.
“Sometimes these guys get rushed, or sometimes they get blown out of proportion and then things go wrong. It’s heavyweight boxing. Heavyweight boxing … it’s unpredictable. I’ve always taken the most dangerous fight and the hardest fight there is.”
Whyte denied he was fazed by the speculation about the fight. “I don’t feel disrespected. In life, everybody’s got an opinion. Everybody’s going to say something. He’s been in the limelight, he’s the new man, he’s shining, he’s knocking everyone out … there’s excitement about him.
“People’s memories are short in boxing. You remember a few years ago when David Haye fought Carl Thompson, Carl Thompson was just a danger man that was in the wilderness. No one cared about Carl Thompson. David Haye was blowing everyone away, smashing everyone’s heads in. And then, look, Carl Thompson showed up and got the job done.”
Moses Itauma has a flawless 12-0 record and is being lined up to take on Oleksandr Usyk. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images/Reuters
Whyte was knocked out by Tyson Fury at Wembley in April 2022 after being the WBC number one contender for more than four years. A rematch with Anthony Joshua was cancelled in August 2023 after an adverse finding in one of Whyte’s drugs tests.
After 15 months out of the ring he won a contentious decision victory over Jermaine Franklin in March 2024. He fought a further two times in 2024 against Christian Hammer and Ebenezer Tetteh, respectively, two fights in which Whyte did not impress, showing levels that were far off the heights and skill level he had shown in victories such as the one against current WBO mandatory challenger, Joseph Parker.
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A win for Whyte would revive his career and could potentially lead to a rematch with Anthony Joshua or Derek Chisora; the opportunities are endless. Otherwise retirement may loom.
Whyte was in a reflective mood when he met reporters, discussing his tough childhood in Brixton, south London. “Sometimes I had no guardians or no one to take care of me. So I was out in the street surviving, stealing and robbing food and stuff to get by, eating from trash cans, doing stuff like that. You know, working as a kid, I remember selling Fanta bottles, the glass bottles to make money, selling fruits, farming, doing stuff. So, I’ve been suffering.
“All I’ve done in my life is fight and struggle, fight and struggle, fight and struggle, fight and struggle, fight and struggle. So it’s what I know how to do. I’ve had to learn to be a better human being.”
He added: “But fighting … and being amongst animals, are the two things that I know to do best.”