Provided they both come through their fights on Saturday night, against Gary Cornish and Brian Minto respectively, then unbeaten British heavyweight prospects Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte, will clash in London on December 12th for the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles.
The eagerly anticipated dust-up between the old foes, largely stemming from an old amateur rivalry that saw Whyte beat Joshua in 2009, provided a taster of the bad blood to come at today’s presser to promote Saturday’s card, when Whyte told Joshua, ‘You’re getting hurt in December.”
Whyte, familiar with Joshua since the aforementioned amateur days, has seen their careers go in starkly different directions in both the amateurs and the paid code, although at last feels the playing field is evening out, given he has now been promised a shot at Matchroom Boxing’s ‘Golden Boy,’ having fought his way up, and back from an enforced 2 yr exile, the hard way.
“God willing I come through this fight Saturday, me and Dillian will fight December 12th. He’s fighting (Minto) on the night, he can have his five minutes of fame and in a couple of months he’ll be forgotten about,” Joshua said before being interrupted by Whyte, angered by what he sees as a cultivated media personality being portrayed by the Olympian.
“Stop being fake, be yourself,” Whyte said. “When are you gonna stop being fake and be yourself? I’ve spent time with you before. ‘This’ isn’t you. Stop trying to fool the people and be yourself,” Whyte added, perhaps in reference to the Joshua who received a 2011 conviction for drug dealing before being spared jail, and thus, given the chance to turn his life around.
As Joshua retorted “You’re lucky to be on my undercard,” much to the delight of giggling promoter Eddie Hearn, the reason Whyte has been messed about by Matchroom so much in terms of getting decent ‘tests’ in before the fight became starkly apparent.
Make no mistake that Joshua is their man, Whyte, definitely the opponent, however the fact Dillian is now taking things extremely seriously with (Wladimir Klitschko) head coach Jonathon Banks, means he will present the biggest and most credible threat Anthony Joshua has seen to date.
He just could have done with a better test than 40 year old cruiserweight, Brian Minto.
“We’ve got some business to deal with first,” Eddie Hearn said, referencing Saturday night and the fact defeat for either puts the skids on the fight, although Whyte was in no such mood to hold off, telling Joshua himself, then assembled media;
“You’re a fool. Make no mistake about it, he’s getting bashed up, he is getting bashed up (in December).”
Twitter @Undilutedpoison
