Whyte bounces back, Joshua next
Dillian Whyte edged out American heavyweight Jermaine Franklin on a majority decision after their 12-round contest at Wembley Arena.
Whyte was returning from defeat to Tyson Fury in April at neighbouring Wembley Stadium and had a battle on his hands against Franklin, with one judge, Michael Alexander scoring their bout level at 115-115.
The other two judges, Juergen Landos and Grzegorz Molenda however both scored the fight 116112 for Whyte.
Franklin found some early success when he caught his counterpart flush on the jaw in the second round before Whyte landed a nasty looking left hook.
Whyte started to up the ante in the middle rounds with Franklin seeming to struggle to deal with his intensity. The American however continued to march through shots after he was backed onto the ropes in the seventh.
Searching for a way past Franklin, the 34-year-old Whyte started getting frustrated but landed a gigantic right hook that rocked the American.
The pair traded shots in the last round and Whyte connected with another right to put Franklin on the ropes before the bell signalled the end
“I expected a tough fight,” Whyte said afterwards.
“He’s undefeated. He’s got a lot of beans in his belly and he come here to give us a good fight.”
A former rival, and former world champion, Anthony Joshua was ringside to watch Whyte and could be viewing him as a potential opponent for 2023.
“I’m ready for whatever. Right now, I just want to relax, go home,” Whyte said.
“I miss my family, I miss my kids, I miss my dogs.”
Fury on Man United consortium
Meanwhile, Tyson Fury will jet out to Qatar to support England — if he scores his Derek Chisora hat-trick and the Three Lions grow some teeth.
The patriotic World Boxing Council (WBC) Gypsy King enjoyed the 6-2 World Cup opener against Iran but the all-action showman would have been disappointed by Friday’s snore-draw with the USA. Undefeated Fury, 34, defends his world title against the 38-year-old veteran he is already 2-0 up against at Tottenham’s stadium on Saturday.
And he will race back up to his Morecambe home on Sunday to hopefully watch the last-16 clash — after England have dealt with the Welsh.
The 19st star — who bought 200 Jagerbombs for fans on a wild trip to Nice for Euro 2016 — fancies another away day but only if England fulfil their potential and land a semi-final spot.
He revealed: “I will get back to Morecambe in plenty of time to watch it on Sunday, as long as I am in one piece.
“If England get through then I will be heading out to Qatar, for sure.
“I wouldn’t be rushing out for a group game because I expected us to get through that s***.
“But if they get to the semis or final, then I will be on my way to Qatar.
“It would be great to get a winter World Cup win after all these years. “I remember going out to the Euros in 2016 and having a fantastic time.
“I went over there and got absolutely legless for a couple of days. “I was singing all my England songs and I was up and down with all the England fans in the zones. It’s still an epic memory.”
The multi-millionaire — who has his gym inside Morecambe’s football ground — ruled out fronting a consortium to buy his beloved Manchester United.
But promoter Frank Warren confirmed an Old Trafford bout is one of the few things left on his star attraction’s boxing bucket list.