‘I Don’t Think He Is a Good Boxer’: Dillian Whyte Gives Honest Assessment on Joshua vs Ngannou

On Sunday, March 17, Dillian Whyte makes his (29-3, 19 KOs) much-anticipated return to the ring against Christian Hammer (27-10, 17 KOs) at TF Royal Hotel, Castlebar, Ireland. “The Body Snatcher” has been cleared to return following an investigation confirmed that a positive drug test was caused by a contaminated supplement, which led to the cancellation of his rematch vs. Anthony Joshua. Following the stacked card in Saudi Arabia for “Knockout Chaos,” Whyte spoke to Sky Sports about the main event in Riyadh and his next fight against Hammer.

Dillian Whyte Reflects on Joshua vs. Ngannou

Dillian Whyte Expected AJ Win

Joshua brutally stopped Ngannou in the main event of “Knockout Chaos” on March 8, and “The Body Snatcher” was far from surprised when he spoke to Sky Sports about the outcome of the headline bout: “Francis is not experienced enough to beat the top guys. He got a bit complacent because he did well against Fury but Fury didn’t take him seriously.” Whyte continued: “Fury just thought he was going to outbox him and he gave Fury some problems but that was his undoing.”

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The Brit went into more detail on the mistakes from Ngannou: “I think that fight gave him false confidence to the point where, when he was getting hammered with big punches, he stayed in the pocket and he wasn’t trying to move his head or hold or anything.” He added: “He went down, stood up in the same place. Didn’t move his head, went down, stood up in the same place and basically waited for the third right hand.”

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“AJ is a puncher and you don’t just stand up in front of someone like AJ with your hands basically down and then switching stances mid-fight against a right-handed puncher. Why did he go southpaw? It didn’t make any sense.

“I just knew that AJ’s experience and his power would be too much. I thought Francis would be a little bit better, to be honest, but Francis… he’s doing boxing, but it’s not recognised boxing training so he hasn’t covered the basics.

“Someone like AJ, an experienced gold medallist, all these world title fights, he covers the basics on a daily basis and that is where Francis came unstuck.”

Whyte Discusses Ability of Ngannou

“I tried to fight Ngannou four years ago,” he said. “I would have definitely knocked him out. I said I would fight him in boxing and MMA.

“I always believed I could knock him out because the boxing ability isn’t there.

“I think he is a good fighter but I don’t think he is a good boxer.

“I believe I would have been able to find a hole, hit him with body shots, and catch him with right hands.”

Dillian Whyte Next Fight

“The Body Snatcher” will return to the ring on March 17, and it remains to be seen how this long layoff has affected Whyte and where he can go in the heavyweight division: “I am very excited, it is very good to be back and I’ll be looking at opportunities in the future,” Whyte told Sky Sports.

“I have been meaning to return to Ireland for a while, I have got family from here and they can come down to the fight.

“Christian Hammer, he is a guy I know, tough guy. Experienced in a lot of fights. It’s a very good fight, considering I have been off for 16 months. Very good fight to come back to.

“I still want the world title and I still want to fight all the big fights. There is a lot of big fights going on and I want my name to get back amongst the mix and to prove I can still beat these guys.”