Anthony Joshua has been told to rematch domestic rival Dillian Whyte before a potential meeting with Deontay Wilder.
Former two-time heavyweight champion Joshua, 34, already has a win over Whyte in the professional ranks having knocked out 'The Bodysnatcher' in 2015 when both men were unbeaten in their careers. It wasn't the first time they had met in the ring however, as Whyte won a decision against 'AJ' in a 2009 amateur fight.
'AJ' lost his unified heavyweight titles to Oleksandr Usyk in September 2021 and failed to win the belts back in their rematch last August. Joshua returned to the win column for the first time in over two years by winning a lacklustre decision against Jermaine Franklin last month - and fellow British boxing legend David Haye thinks 'AJ' should consider facing Whyte before an illustrious showdown against Wilder at the end of the year.
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“If he believes that he can beat Wilder and he is going to take the fight, great, then fight Dillian before," Haye told iFL TV. "Why not? It’s a great fight for the fans, Dillian comes to bring it, there will be a lot of people thinking that Dillian may be able to cause the upset and I think it will be a real, intense fight. It will be a lot more intense than him and Franklin the other night, which was like a sparring session.
"You are diminishing your chances of victory by having too long out of the ring. If Wilder wants to take that amount of time out of the ring, ok, if Anthony wants to give himself the best chance of victory, he needs to be active against a fighter who throws big hooks. The best person for that is Dillian, he throws some of the best hooks in the business, his left hook is one of the best in the game.”
Joshua is now working with his third trainer in the space of two years after parting ways with Robert McCracken after his first loss to Usyk and Robert Garcia after his second defeat to the Ukrainian. 'AJ' has also been advised by another boxing legend in Roy Jones Jr to not rush into a fight with Wilder.
"Those punches that will be coming at you from [Wilder] are different to anybody else in the division," Jones told Boxing News. "Sometimes it takes time for a fighter and trainer to get their whole aspect together. Apparently, that hasn’t happened straight away, but if they stay together, then maybe they’ll finally get some continuity."
