Daily Star

Thomas is French cooked

Body Snatcher still dreams of Joshua revenge

- By MATT PENN and RYAN TAYLOR ■ by MIKE WALTERS

DILLIAN WHYTE believes he is on the right track while rival Anthony Joshua is going backwards.

The two heavyweigh­t Brits clashed in 2015, when Joshua knocked out Whyte at the O2.

But ‘The Body Snatcher,’ who comes up against Oscar Rivas tonight at the same venue, insists he has come on in leaps and bounds since then.

Whyte said: “When I fought Joshua, he was already maxed out I think. He had an Olympic training set-up behind him, so many years behind him, and I was just doing my own thing.

“Things have changed now. I’ve got a new set-up, I’m incredibly focused and I’m getting good feedback from my trainers.

“For Joshua it’s all just muscle memory. He hit his maximum already, so I feel like I’ve probably improved more than him since we last fought.”

Whyte and Colombian Rivas will battle for the WBC interim world title – and, in turn, a shot at current champion Deontay Wilder – when they clash in London tonight.

The 31-year-old isn’t taking his opponent lightly. He added: “I need to make sure I’m on form. I have to be concentrat­ed, make sure I’ve put in all the work and that I’m doing everything I can do to deal with his speed, his tenacity and his punch output.

“He’s got a big skillset, loads of experience, he’s a very experience­d boxer. I take every■

one serious and Rivas is a very dangerous guy. It’s stupid to go in the ring and overlook someone who’s so dangerous. I will never do that because I know one punch in heavyweigh­t boxing can put your lights out.”

Whyte’s last outing was in December when he saw off Dereck Chisora with a brutal left-hook in the 11th round.

The seven months between then and now is his second-longest period of inactivity since his loss to Joshua.

Whyte added: “Sometimes you need a good rest in boxing. I had a busy 2018, lots of training camps and sparring.”

Rivas, meanwhile, is looking to put down his own marker in the heavyweigh­t division.

He was turned down by Tyson Fury earlier this year, who deemed him too small for his Wilder rematch preparatio­ns.

Now he’s looking to steal Whyte’s longawaite­d WBC world title shot.

“Until the final bell sounds on the night, nobody knows exactly happen,” said Rivas.

“I think it’s a very even fight, I don’t see it just being a battle. I will be the last man standing.”

The 32-year-old, who has won all 26 of his contests with 18 coming via knockout, dreams of one day sharing the ring with Joshua (inset above).

“I’ve always been somebody who likes challenges in my life, obviously Anthony Joshua is one of the biggest heavyweigh­ts around,” he added.

“It would be a marvellous opportunit­y for the future.” (left) what’s going to GERAINT THOMAS suffered a shock time trial defeat to Yellow Jersey rival Julian Alaphilipp­e – and admitted he was cooked in the heat.

Britain’s Tour de France champion was expected to cut the gap on overnight leader Alaphilipp­e in the 17-mile race against the clock in Pau but instead he lost 14 seconds to the inspired Frenchman.

Now Thomas will have to make up an 86-second deficit in the mountains over the last week, starting with today’s summit finish on the formidable Tourmalet in the Pyrenees.

He said: “I didn’t really expect that from Alaphilipp­e. The way he’s riding, if he keeps that up, he’ll win, but there’s a lot of hard stages to come.”

Team Ineos leader Thomas struggled as temperatur­es hit 86 degrees and he added: “It just felt like I was just overheatin­g a bit.”

Fellow Brit Adam Yates slipped from seventh to 10th, almost four minutes off the lead.

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IN WITH A SHOUT: Dillian Whyte at full throttle before yesterday’s meeting with the press ■
FACE OFF: Whyte and Rivas
■ IN WITH A SHOUT: Dillian Whyte at full throttle before yesterday’s meeting with the press ■ FACE OFF: Whyte and Rivas
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 ??  ?? INSPIRED: Alaphilipp­e
INSPIRED: Alaphilipp­e
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