Anthony Joshua is ‘rooting’ Dillian Whyte against Tyson Fury – but says he still ‘hates’ The Body Snatcher
Anthony Joshua has had his say on Dillian Whyte versus Tyson Fury for the first time.
The WBC heavyweight title fight was made official last week and Fury will take on Whyte at Wembley Stadium on April 23.
Speaking to iFL TV ahead of Lawrence Okolie’s successful title defence against Michal Cieslak, Joshua said he is rooting for Whyte in that fight, but he still hates him.
“It’s a good [quality] defence against Dillian Whyte,” Joshua started. Dillian Whyte needs to come in look at what Tyson Fury does and reacts to the complete opposite. Maybe work the body and be conditioned to go the distance, but I hope Dillian trains hard and doesn’t underestimate Tyson.
“Because it’s his first time fighting for a title, I think he’ll be hungry. This ain’t his 10th time fighting for a title and he can have a little hiccup along the way – this is his first time fighting for a title.
“I’m rooting for Dillian, even though I hate him and I wanna smash him one of these days. Go on Dillian, I’m with you all the way,” Joshua said with a smile.
Joshua and Whyte are now stablemates with Matchroom Boxing, but Joshua did stop Whyte back in 2015.
Whyte has been waiting around three years to get his world title shot and now he finally has it on a grand stage like Wembley.
Fury became the WBC champion when he defeated Deontay Wilder in their second meeting in February 2020. He then beat Wilder once again last October.
Prior to his final clash with Wilder, Fury had agreed to face then-WBO, IBF, IBO and WBA (Super) heavyweight champion Joshua in an undisputed title fight booked to take place in Saudi Arabia.
Once the court of arbitration forced Fury to face Wilder, Joshua decided to face his mandatory challenger in pursuit of keeping the undisputed title fight alive, Oleksandr Usyk.
Usyk defeated Joshua last September and now AJ has a contracted rematch with Usyk that was expected for May, but the turmoil in Usyk’s homeland of Ukraine now that Russia has invaded might complicate that.
Whyte and Fury are expected to have their first press conference since the fight was ratified this week.
