Dillian Whyte wanted to be the man in the opposite corner in heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua’s next fight, but as fans know, AJ will instead make his US debut against Jarrell Miller on June 1. And Whyte says he won’t be shocked if the 315 pounder named “Big Baby” scores the upset and defeats Joshua in New York. But as Whyte explained to Sky Sports, he would still fight Joshua if he did lose in June.
Whyte reckons Joshua, the only man to have beaten him in the pro ranks, is “gun-shy” and that Miller can capitalize.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he does beat Joshua,” Whyte said of the unbeaten Miller. “Joshua has got very gun-shy, and if Miller can absorb his punishment early, and bring it to him late in the fight, then I wouldn’t be surprised if Miller does beat him. I wouldn’t be shocked, it wouldn’t surprise me at all. If AJ loses the title, I’ll still fight him, because it’s personal with me and him.”
Which fights/performances of Joshua’s is Whyte referring to when he says AJ has become gun-shy? Perhaps, in the tepid decision win of a fight with Joseph Parker, Joshua was guilty of not throwing enough leather, but in his last fight, against Alexander Povetkin, Joshua scored a brutal stoppage over a man who had never previously been stopped. Okay, Joshua had to overcome a rough start to the fight, but he did so and he remained composed in doing it. Do you agree with Whyte: has AJ shown signs of being gun-shy? I don’t see it.
As for Miller, he does throw a lot of punches, he has a good engine and maybe he can out-work Joshua and, should the defending champion get tired, get to him and either score a knockdown or two on the way to a decision win or score an outright KO. But despite what Whyte insists is the case with him, this scenario WOULD be shocking. Whyte did say that if Miller “can absorb his punishment early” he may be able to come on to win. But that’s the key – Miller will find he has never been hit as hard by anyone ever before when Joshua starts connecting on his relatively easy to find head and jaw.
It will be another AJ night in New York, as he scores yet another KO. Deep down, Whyte thinks this way himself. Only last week, Whyte told the same Sky Sports how he will not even bother to attend the AJ/Miller fight, because he “already knows what will happen: Joshua by KO in six or seven rounds.” Now, however, Whyte seems to have changed his mind. Or has he?
