Dillian Whyte looks like a shell of his former self in win!
After four months of intermittent silence after a failed drug test by UKAD surfaced, Dillian Whyte (27-1, 18KO) found himself on the under-card of Andy Ruiz and Anthony Joshua’s rematch.
Many had only been expecting an update on a possible B-sample test, therefore, the news that he would take on former title contender Mariusz Wach (35-6, 19KO), it was a bit of a surprise.
Worth The Wait?
The WBC interim champion got off the canvas to win a perceived 50/50 match-up against the dangerous Oscar Rivas in July. However, at the weigh-in and as he disrobed in the ring, Whyte had the look of a fighter who had just been stripped of his P.E.Ds as he came in twelve pounds over what he weighed against Rivas.
Along with that, his performance in against Wach was anything but good. The Dillian Whyte that defeated Robert Helenius, Lucas Browne, Dereck Chisora twice and Rivas was non-existent here.
It was obvious from the opening round that he did not train for this bout. Furthermore, he took the veteran challenger pretty lightly.
The two men had a rather dull match-up early on. Both established their jabs against the other whiel attempting to setup combinations.
The more one-dimensional Wach did not utilize his 3 inch height and 4 inch reach advantage all that well. He elected to stay at mid-range distance, throwing pestering shots that didn’t have much zing on them.
Meanwhile, with his opponent in range, Whyte did an excellent job setting him up for counters. He would continuously bang the chin of Wach but neglected to go more to the body on the equally out of shape opponent.
When Being Out-Of-Shape Goes Wrong!
By round five, Whyte seemed to be gasping for air more than his opponent and rightfully so. Although, the two only had a one pound documented weight difference, Wach actually lost the same amount of weight Whyte gained for this bout. Therefore, he would be the more conditioned fighter and it showed.
Wach started to have success landing combinations as the Brit started to slow down. The interim champ would get caught repeatedly with his hands down and in some cases while backing up. He always made sure to answer back, however, it was quite frustrating to see him getting hit at will by an opponent of Wach’s caliber.
At this point, the fight turned into Whyte trying to out “volume” the bigger man, hoping the work-rate would grant him the rounds.
By the ninth round, the effectiveness of the jabs from Wach started to show on Whyte’s face as his right eye was on the verge of closing. Still, he would muster on; running into shots to land his own.
In the end, the judges rewarded the work-rate. Whyte would slide by with the scores 98-93 and 97-93 twice.
Afterwards, the interim champ mentioned the hardships that he’s had to endure since the failed drug test over four months ago. However, 3kingsboxing.com recently reported Whtye being cleared by UKAD.
When questioned about this, he expressed his relief, however, he would like to exercise his status and possibly get the WBC champion Deontay Wilder in the ring!
By: EJ Williams
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