Any hope of seeing Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte engage in a rematch in the coming months has been completely dashed at this point, according to Whyte.
During the Matchroom Boxing card at the O2 Arena in London, Whyte was asked about the status of a potential fight against Joshua for the unified WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles. Before February 2, the last update was a prior report that the fight was no longer in play to take place at Wembley Stadium on April 13, but there was some hope of keeping the fight intact for a later date and venue.
Whyte would go on to say that he is no longer going to fight Joshua, ending all hope for an all-British showdown for three of the four major heavyweight titles. Whyte did reveal that he has several options for a backup fight, likely to take place at the O2 Arena in April.
"The Joshua fight is dead so we move on. I'm in a good position where I got options. We wanted the fight, I think they wanted the fight as well, but sometimes, negotiations break down. I believe I have a certain value and there's a lot of ins and outs in this business. It's very difficult, but yeah we'll move on. I'm fighting here on April 20 against Dominic Breazeale or Alexander Povetkin or Luis Ortiz, one of those guys. We'll see what Eddie can deliver in the next couple of days," Whyte said.
As far as his personal pick of who could be Whyte's next opponent, the British slugger said he wishes to face Breazeale as he is the mandatory challenger to Deontay Wilder's WBC heavyweight title. A win against Breazeale could put him next in line to face Wilder down the road.
"I'd fight Breazeale because the big guy's only lost once and he's the WBC mandatory challenger even though I'm No. 1. I've been No. 1 for almost two years and he's No. 3. I don't understand that so we want to get to the body of that situation and fight him, beat him and Wilder would grow some stones and show up to fight," Whyte said.
While Whyte is looking for a new opponent, Joshua is currently nearing a deal to fight undefeated heavyweight contender Jarrell Miller this summer in the United States, although no deal has been finalized yet.
