DILLIAN WHYTE is often Anthony Joshuaโs harshest critic. The two have crossed paths, as amateurs and in an exciting 2015 British heavyweight title fight. Whyte could not agree on conditions to fight Joshua on April 13 at Wembley Stadium but insists he was willing to challenge Joshua on June 1, once original opponent Jarrell Miller committed several doping violations and was cast out of the fight.
โWe should have been fighting at Wembley. We tried to make the fight from last year, September. They came to me this year, January, after I fought [Dereck] Chisora and I was resting, to make the fight,โ Whyte declared. โIโve never turned a fight down. I donโt turn fights down. These guys just talk s***.โ
โWhen Miller pulled out, I was already training for five weeks, heโd had eight weeks VADA testing, these are the things we wanted,โ he continued. โWe also wanted time to prepare. Because Iโd just had a hard year, three big fights.โ
It did not work out. โThe negotiations with Joshua were never serious,โ Whyte lamented. โThere were no serious talks about the fight.
โAll theyโve done is made some offers to cover their tracks.โ
Unsurprisingly he is unimpressed with the choice of Andy Ruiz as the replacement opponent for Joshua. โI donโt think itโs a good fight. I just think they should pay Luis Ortiz the extra money and fight him,โ Whyte said. โThey should be overpaying him because whoโs going to risk losing and getting bashed up if the reward isnโt worth it.โ
โI think Andy Ruiz just doesn’t hit hard enough. Heโs got quick hands [but] he’s not the fittest, doesn’t look the part. But heโs a well-schooled guy and all of that. But if [Joseph] Parker can outbox him that easy, then what’s AJ going to do to him? But I understand itโs short notice and heโs saving the day so full props to him and hopefully he does well,โ he added. โI donโt think Joshua looks bad in that fight. It just depends whether the needle he had with Miller and the mindset he has is still there. I think thatโs the only way he looks bad, whether his concentration lapses or anything, [if he thinks,] โItโs a fat couch potatoโ or whatever. I think he beats Andy Ruiz [in] six, seven rounds. Beats him up. Andy Ruizโs feet are too slow. Heโs a pressure fighter and he hasnโt got quick feet or good head movement. Heโs a pressure fighter with his hands up. You canโt walk a six foot six, 250lbs guy with range down like that. You need head movement and quick feet and he hasn’t got any of the two. And he hasn’t got a concussive punch as well.โ
But Whyte adds, โI donโt really care. Because they should have fought me at Wembley in the UK. I donโt really care, thatโs his problem.
“If these guys want to fight, these fights will happen.โ