Izuchukwu Okosi
The much anticipated return to the boxing ring for Anglo-Nigerian 2012 Olympic gold medallist and former heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua is now set for August 12 at the O2 Arena.
Joshua will fight Dillian Whyte in a rematch eight years after both men squared off.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe first time Joshua and Whyte fought was on 12 December 2015, also at the O2 Arena.
Joshua (AJ) won via seventh-round TKO to retain the WBC International and Commonwealth heavyweight titles and win the vacant British heavyweight championship.
“I’ve been clear that my plan is to be active this year,” Joshua told Liam Happe of DAZN. “August 12 is the date, I’ll be ready to fight. I look forward to dealing with business.”
Matchroom Sport chairman Eddie Hearn also weighed in on the fight and expressed pleasant shock that an agreement could be found after some differences in the amount of earnings as objected by the camp of Whyte.
“At times it may have looked like a game of bluff, but now we are set and with everything that’s on the line this is an absolute must-win for both,” Hearn said.
“Just like the first time at The O2, get ready for fireworks August 12 and a huge night of boxing live on DAZN.”
There had been speculation in recent weeks that talks between the two fighters’ camps weren’t going smoothly.
Hearn had told boxing reporters on June 21 they were seeking a new opponent for Joshua because Whyte’s camp was unsatisfied with their financial offer.
In an interview with talkSport’ Michael Benson, Whyte disputed Hearn’s claim and said the contract they sent to him wasn’t the one they verbally agreed to:
“They said it was gonna be a standard contract, but it’s not, there’s a lot of things in the contract now that they didn’t say was gonna be in it. … It’s like this, he said, ‘We’re gonna send a simple contract,’ and then they sent a very complicated contract with a lot of hoops and a lot of hooks to hook me in.
“I don’t want that, I just want a simple contract, simple fight, winner moves on and has a big fight in Saudi Arabia.
“This fight for me is about the opportunity, it’s not about the money, that’s why I’m taking the fight for the money they’ve offered me.
“But now they’re trying to put a rematch clause in there that ties me up for a year and messes everything up, I’m not interested in that. I just want a straightforward fight, winner moves on, that’s it.”
It was the first professional loss of Whyte’s career. He has lost two of his last four fights, though he was able to avenge one of those defeats with a fourth-round TKO victory over Alexander Povetkin in March 2021.
Whyte defeated Jermaine Franklin by majority decision in his most recent bout on Nov. 26. Joshua rebounded from consecutive losses against Oleksandr Usyk with a unanimous-decision victory over Franklin on April 1.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
