Dillian Whyte has launched a scathing attack on two-time former unified world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua as their respective promoter, Eddie Hearn, revealed that he is aiming and pushing towards a rematch between the pair for August 12th, with the 02 arena being provisionally booked for that date.
Speaking to Boxing Social, Hearn laid out his plans for Joshua following his refusal of Tyson Fury’s offer to challenge him for the WBC world heavyweight title in September.
“We have the O2 [Arena] held for that date, yes.”
“We want to make AJ vs DIllian Whyte, that is the fight that we want to make for August 12th. We still have to close that deal, and we are not there yet, at all. So, we have other opponents in mind, but we would like to fight Dillian Whyte.
We are also looking at stadiums for that fight, but we do have the O2 booked for August 12th.”
The long-standing rivals previously fought in 2015, contesting the vacant British heavyweight title as Joshua secured a stoppage victory in the seventh round.
The fight between the pair has long been talked up and speculated by Hearn and even more so following the back-to-back defeats for Joshua against Oleksandr Usyk. Joshua returned for the first time this year in April against Jermaine Franklin and laboured to a unanimous points win at the 02 Arena.
Whyte is firmly back on the comeback trail following his knockout defeat to Tyson Fury in April of last year. Whyte returned in November last year against Franklin, labouring to a narrow majority decision win of which many had speculated that Franklin did more than enough to secure victory over the former WBC mandatory challenger.
Joshua took to Instagram and denied that he knew about a fight between himself and Whyte, following Hearn’s comments, saying, “I don’t know about any talks to fight Dillian Whyte. AJ this, AJ that, AJ hairlines going way back, but i’ll still fuck your girl. Go retweet that.”
The at-times temperamental Whyte, known for his blunt and to-the-point responses regarding Joshua, did not mince his words in a scathing response to Joshua’s comments. The comments from Joshua have since been removed from Instagram.
“How’s about you stop being a bitch, and let’s make the fight, you fucking weird guy, always talking shit tweeting stuff then deleting be a man, you little bitch.”
The heavyweight duo are known for a frosty and, at times, combatant relationship. This stems from their younger day in the amateur system, where Whyte famously defeated the 2012 Olympic gold medalist & two-time unified world heavyweight champion.
