107 Facts About Dillian Whyte

Dillian Whyte is a Jamaican-British professional boxer who has formerly competed as a kickboxer and mixed martial artist.

Dillian Whyte held the World Boxing Council interim heavyweight title twice between 2019 and 2022.

Dillian Whyte was born in Port Antonio, Portland, Jamaica, on 11 April 1988.

Dillian Whyte moved with his family to the United Kingdom when he was 12.

Dillian Whyte's paternal grandfather was an Irishman named Patrick Whyte, who emigrated to Jamaica from Dublin, Ireland.

Dillian Whyte grew up in Brixton, London and fought at Miguel's Boxing Gym.

Dillian Whyte made his professional MMA debut on 6 December 2008, at the Ultimate Challenge MMA, on the James McSweeney vs Neil Grove undercard, where he defeated Mark Stroud with a right cross only 12 seconds into the round; ultimately winning by knockout at The Troxy.

Dillian Whyte left one of his amateur opponents in a coma for several weeks due to a KO.

Dillian Whyte had a limited amateur record because of a dispute with the ABA regarding his kickboxing background, which led him to turn professional in 2011, although trainer Okoh wanted him to remain amateur.

Dillian Whyte signed with boxing promoter Frank Maloney, after friends of Maloney witnessed sparring sessions Dillian Whyte had with David Haye and former UFC light-heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson.

On 16 September 2011, Dillian Whyte made his second professional appearance against his Lithuanian heavyweight journeyman opponent Remigijus Ziausys.

On 3 December 2011 Dillian Whyte defeated Croatian Toni Visic, winning by technical knockout in the third round due to referee Jeff Hinds stopping the fight at 1 minute 46 seconds.

The next fight for Dillian Whyte was against veteran journeyman Hastings Rasani on 21 January 2012 at the Liverpool Olympia in Liverpool.

Dillian Whyte scored a PTS win based over Rasani, making it his third win on points.

Dillian Whyte went on to fight Hungarian giant Gabor Farkas at the York Hall in London on 7 July 2012, winning by second-round KO; it marked the first KO victory in Dillian Whyte's professional career.

Two months later on 15 September 2012, Dillian Whyte challenged former British heavyweight champion Mike Holden to a bout scheduled for six rounds.

Dillian Whyte's last fight of 2012 was against Sandor Balogh, which took place in Bluewater, Greenhithe, Kent on the James DeGale undercard when DeGale fought Hadiliah Mohoumadi for the European super-middleweight title on 13 October 2012.

Dillian Whyte won the bout but was later stripped of the win due to testing positive for banned substances.

The revelation came while Dillian Whyte was en route to a news conference to announce a fight for the English title.

The UK Anti-Doping organisation confirmed that Dillian Whyte was provisionally suspended from all competition from 5 November 2012.

However, Dillian Whyte appealed the ban, though the appeal panel retorted by emphasising the confirmed two-year ban; the tribunal had accepted Dillian Whyte's claim that he did not knowingly take MHA, but rejected his appeal because he did not do enough to check the supplement's ingredients, as Charles Flint QC, the chairman of the appeal tribunal, explained in his written verdict.

Dillian Whyte was thereby banned from all competition with a period of ineligibility from 13 October 2012 to 12 October 2014, and the result against Balogh disqualified.

Dillian Whyte was cleared to compete from 12 October 2014, since his two-year ban by UKAD and returned to boxing on 21 November 2014 at the Camden Centre in London to fight Ante Verunica, a fight which lasted all of two rounds as Dillian Whyte delivered a hard shot that forced a stoppage from referee Jeff Hinds for a TKO victory.

On 20 December 2014, Dillian Whyte scored another TKO win, this time over heavyweight hope Kamil Sokolowski in three rounds at the City Hall in Hull.

Dillian Whyte followed up his Sokolowski win with a KO victory over Marcelo Luiz Nascimento on 7 February 2015 at the Camden Centre to which the Brazilian had never been stopped as quickly in his career.

Dillian Whyte scored a fourth-round stoppage over Lobjanidze in a scheduled ten-round bout, as Dillian Whyte landed a hard left to the side of the head which sent Lobjanidze to the canvas and he was unable to beat referee Phil Edwards' count at 1 minute 10 seconds of round four, winning by KO.

On 1 August 2015, Dillian Whyte faced Irineu Beato Costa Junior, at the KC Lightstream Stadium in Hull, on the undercard of Rumble on the Humber featuring Luke Campbell's clash against Tommy Coyle in a WBC lightweight eliminator.

Dillian Whyte sent the Brazilian crashing backwards to the canvas, and referee Michael Alexander stopped the fight with 2 minutes 41 seconds remaining in the first round as Dillian Whyte put Costa back to the floor with a right hand.

Dillian Whyte defeated Minto by KO in the third round, having already knocked him down once in the first round.

On 14 September 2015, it was announced that Dillian Whyte would fight old rival Anthony Joshua for the vacant British heavyweight title on 12 December at The O2 Arena in London on Sky Sports Box Office.

Dillian Whyte appeared hurt again in the second round but was able to catch Joshua with a counterpunch and follow it up, leaving Joshua visibly shaken.

Dillian Whyte landed several body shots towards the end of the round.

Dillian Whyte took many hard shots before coming back with his own, his chin has since been lauded by critics.

Dillian Whyte was rocked again in the seventh round from a heavy right hand to the temple.

Dillian Whyte started off slow, before working on the jab and knocking Bacurin out with a right hand.

In what was expected to be a tough fight for Dillian Whyte, the fight went the full ten-round distance.

Dillian Whyte defeated Lewison to claim the vacant title via tenth-round stoppage victory.

Dillian Whyte was hurt a number of times in the fight by Chisora; in the eighth, tenth and twelfth rounds.

On two occasions in the twelfth, Dillian Whyte was knocked off balance by Chisora after being hit with huge shots to the head.

Post fight, Dillian Whyte stated he would not give Chisora a rematch but changed his mind later saying he would be open to a rematch.

Dillian Whyte listed Bryant Jennings, Mariusz Wach, Artur Szpilka and Gerald Washington as potential opponents.

In early June, promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing confirmed that Dillian Whyte would be making his US debut in the Summer of 2017 in order to earn himself a potential world title shot by the end of the year.

On 25 July, Hearn announced that Dillian Whyte would fight 44 year old former world title challenger Michael Grant, who was on a three fight losing streak since 2013.

Dillian Whyte knocked Tann down four times en route to winning the fight via TKO in round three.

Dillian Whyte admitted he needed a bigger challenge towards the end of the year before a potential world title fight.

Some reported suggested Dillian Whyte would fight former two-time European champion Robert Helenius.

Dillian Whyte failed to impress as he defeated Helenius over twelve rounds via UD.

Dillian Whyte bounced back and dominated the remainder of the fight with Helenius reluctant to throw anything meaningful to win the rounds.

Dillian Whyte felt 'betrayed' by this decision from the WBC as he thought he was already in line to challenge Wilder next.

Dillian Whyte stated, if anything, the WBC should order Dillian Whyte vs Breazeale as the final eliminator.

Dillian Whyte won the bout via UD in a fight which saw both boxers hit the canvas.

Dillian Whyte knocked Parker down twice in the fight, dropping him in rounds two and nine.

Dillian Whyte started using roughhouse tactics after the first few rounds.

Dillian Whyte was warned once earlier in the fight and then warned again in the final rounds, however no points were deducted.

Dillian Whyte got to his feet and survived the remaining seconds of the fight.

Derek Chisora, who knocked out Carlos Takam on the undercard, was mentioned, however Dillian Whyte stated he was not interested as he 'had bigger fish to fry'.

Dillian Whyte won by KO in the eleventh round, from a powerful left hook.

Dillian Whyte had luck in the early rounds, catching Chisora, but Chisora continued to work away, and received two warnings for low blows on Dillian Whyte, which arguably switched the tempo of the fight.

Dillian Whyte did not reveal the figure he claimed it was lower than what he received against Chisora in December 2018.

Dillian Whyte claimed the Joshua fight "was dead" and he was to look at other options, including a potential fight with Dominic Breazeale for the WBC interim title, but Breazeale challenged Deontay Wilder for the world title.

Dillian Whyte was rocked by Rivas a few times but came back quickly with his own combinations that made Rivas cover up and in the ninth-round Rivas dropped Dillian Whyte which he blamed on him crossing his legs while backing up.

Dillian Whyte went on to win by UD and was later suspended of the WBC interim title after a drugs test came back with inconclusive results.

On 27 November 2019, Matchroom Boxing announced that Dillian Whyte would be added to the Andy Ruiz Jr.

Dillian Whyte had his right eye nearly closed by the end of the contest.

Dillian Whyte stated he was 'thumbed' a few times, which caused the eye swelling.

Wach landed huge left hook to Dillian Whyte, which left him stunned.

Dillian Whyte was scheduled to defend his WBC interim title against Alexander Povetkin on 2 May 2020 Manchester Arena due to the COVID-19 pandemic the event was rescheduled for 22 August at the Matchroom Sport headquarters in Brentwood, Essex.

Dillian Whyte promoted Xavier Miller from his team to head coach.

Dillian Whyte weighed in at 252.6 pounds, much lighter than his previous bout and showed signs he was taking the fight more serious.

Dillian Whyte lost the fight via knockout in the fifth round, losing his WBC interim title and mandatory position for Tyson Fury's WBC title.

Dillian Whyte had started off well and controlled the fight in the first four rounds, knocking Povetkin down twice in the fourth round.

Dillian Whyte believed he would beat Povetkin nine times out of ten, hence taking the rematch immediately.

Dillian Whyte played down talks of Povetkin having COVID and suggested Povetkin just needed more time to get ready for the rematch.

Dillian Whyte told Hearn he wanted to fight in front of a crowd.

Dillian Whyte added former co-trainer of Lennox Lewis, Harold 'The Shadow' Knight to his training team alongside Xavier Miller and later moved his training came from Portugal to Spain.

Povetkin had been tested regularly since his cancelled fight with Deontay Wilder in 2016 and Dillian Whyte had been tested more recently.

The win meant that Dillian Whyte regained the WBC interim heavyweight title.

Dillian Whyte landed two right hands to the head of Povetkin followed by a left hook to the head which dropped him.

Povetkin only landed 8 punches of 72 thrown and Dillian Whyte threw 131 punches, landing 57 of them, 30 of which were power punches.

However, a mere ten days before the fight was scheduled to occur, it was reported that the fight had been called off due to Dillian Whyte suffering a shoulder injury.

Dillian Whyte ultimately did not reschedule the bout against Wallin, opting instead to wait for a shot at undefeated WBC and The Ring champion Tyson Fury, who himself had previously fought and defeated Wallin in September 2019.

Dillian Whyte's lawyer stated that his client would not be partaking in promoting the fight, as "we still do not have things resolved".

Dillian Whyte unexpectedly boxed the first round in the southpaw stance, which was unusual for the primarily orthodox fighter.

On 30 September 2022, Dillian Whyte appointed Hall of Famer Buddy McGirt as his head trainer replacing Xavier Miller and Harold Knight.

Dillian Whyte weighed 251 pounds for the fight and Franklin, slightly heavier, at 257 pounds.

Dillian Whyte continued to control the mid rounds with his body work.

Dillian Whyte was warned in round 9 for not breaking breaking and Franklin in round 11 for use of head.

Dillian Whyte shrugged this off, calling it a close affair and a close but clear win for himself and said he pressed more in the fight.

Dillian Whyte admitted he had spoken with his team and would have retired, had he lost the fight.

On 2 July 2023, Sky Sports announced that Dillian Whyte had signed and sent back the contract which would confirm his rematch against old rival Anthony Joshua.

On 5 August 2023, it was announced that Dillian Whyte had received a positive drug test and later it was announced that he would be replaced by Robert Helenius in the fight.

An investigation later found the positive drug test to be a result of a contaminated supplement and Dillian Whyte was cleared to resume his boxing career.

Dillian Whyte did not waste any time in announcing his next fight giving himself 10 days notice.

Dillian Whyte was scheduled to fight Christian Hammer, headlining a card billed "Once Upon a Time in the West" on 17 March 2024 at the TF Royal Theatre in Castlebar, Ireland.

Dillian Whyte was ready to put the past several months behind him and said it had always been a dream to fight in Ireland.

Dillian Whyte was not happy that he had only fought four times in 4 years.

Dillian Whyte still believed he could get himself back into world title contention.

Dillian Whyte landed to the head and body or Hammer, who had little trouble in landing clean shots to Dillian Whyte's head.

In round 3, Dillian Whyte landed hard body shots, constantly backing Hammer against the ropes.

Dillian Whyte was frustrated following the win as he had prepared hard for the fight.

Dillian Whyte called Hammer a coward after the fight, noting that he approached the fight in a very negative manner.

Trainer McGirt wanted Dillian Whyte to be active in 2024, mentioning a possible fight again in the Summer.

Dillian Whyte won the bout by stoppage in the seventh round.

Post-fight, Dillian Whyte spoke about his frustration and said he wanted to get rounds in after not being active enough.

Dillian Whyte again stated his desire to fight on a future Riyadh Season card.

Filip Hrgovic would eventually replace the injured Dillian Whyte and beat Joyce by unanimous decision.

Dillian Whyte has highlighted his early boxing idols as including Jack Dempsey, Sonny Liston, Archie Moore, Lennox Lewis and James Toney.