Daily Mirror

ALL WHYTE ON THE NIGHT

Hearn talks up Dillian’s big trilogy fight with AJ despite looking unimpressi­ve in his lacklustre points win

- BY DAVID ANDERSON @MirrorAnde­rson

EVER the salesman, Eddie Hearn claims Anthony Joshua’s trilogy clash with Dillian Whyte will be as epic as their second clash.

Hearn is planning a deciding fight for the two rivals next summer at Wembley to settle their 13year long rivalry. However Whyte will need to improve markedly on his unconvinci­ng majority points win over Jermaine Franklin to justify Hearn’s hype. Whyte only showed flashes of his usual aggression to the frustratio­n of the crowd at the OVO Arena, Wembley, as he stuck to new trainer Buddy McGirt’s gameplan to fight behind his jab. Hearn is undeterred by Whyte’s lacklustre display and says both men will probably fight in the spring before colliding in the summer under the Wembley Arch. “It’s always a big fight,” said the Matchroom chief. “They’ve always wanted to fight each other again.

“It’s one-one – one from the amateurs, one from the pros. The second fight, which feels like a lifetime ago, was an epic night and the third one would be as well. It wouldn’t be at the O2 again, it’d be at Wembley.

“We’ll see what’s next for Dillian. Maybe Dillian has one in February or March, AJ has one in March and then they meet in the summer at Wembley.”

Whyte spoke to Joshua, who was sat ringside beside Hearn, after the fight and says he wants to avenge his defeat to him from 2015.

“I want to get back to championsh­ip contention and avenge my three losses,” said the former world title challenger. “I’ve avenged one already.”

McGirt was wary of the threat posed by Franklin, who came into the fight boasting a 21-0 record, and told Whyte to stick rigidly to his gameplan. The fight only came to life briefly in the 10th when Whyte landed a big right and in the final seconds when he detonated a left hand on Franklin.

The ropes held the American up before the final bell saved him and Whyte won 116-112 on two scorecards, while the third saw it as a draw 115-115.

Whyte, 34, admitted his career would have been over if he had suffered a third loss in four fights and felt it was job done.

“New coach, new style and Buddy was very forceful in what he wanted,” said the Brixton Body Snatcher, who ruled out a rematch.

“He said ‘I don’t care what the motherf ***** is doing, you do what I want you to do. Trust me, stick with the jab’ and it paid off.

“Normally I work the body and I work the head, but he wanted me to stay on the body, so he was testing me as well if I would follow instructio­ns under pressure.”

 ?? ?? JOB DONE Whyte saw off Franklin but Joshua (watching with Eddie Hearn below) would not have been impressed
JOB DONE Whyte saw off Franklin but Joshua (watching with Eddie Hearn below) would not have been impressed

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