British heavyweight boxer, Dillian Whyte has taken a swipe at his compatriot and two-time world champion, Anthony Olaseni Oluwafemi Joshua, as he believes his former conqueror has lost the aggressive style he used to exhibit in the early days of his professional career, megasportsarena.com reports.
Whyte recalls how he was whipped by Joshua in 2015, but has now posited that the Nigerian-born three-belt holder has dropped in quality, while he has developed into a superior fighter and believes he would be able to do better than Mexico’s Andy Ruiz Jnr did in his rematch against ‘AJ’ in December.
Joshua did knock Whyte out when they met five years ago, but the Brit is blowing hot, as he recalls how Ruiz dented his rival’s unbeaten mark on June 1, 2012, and stressed that aggression and force are no longer the hall mark of the defending champ.
He opined that Joshua has dropped the aggressive style that made him exciting, unstoppable and popular, then submitted with a verdict that the world champion will not be the same fiery fighter he used to be, having changed his style to a more cautious one in order to gain revenge against Ruiz on December 7 and recapture his belts in Saudi Arabia.
Whyte told Sky Sports: “We’ve seen this before – Lennox Lewis was an aggressive fighter on the front foot but got knocked out by Hasim Rahman, then changed his style. People forget Wladimir Klitschko was one of the most aggressive heavyweights for a long time, but he got done by Ross Puritty, Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster then changed his style.
“Joshua will be the same. Tall heavyweights start their careers very aggressively, but then? Even Deontay Wilder, when he was clocked a couple of times by Luis Ortiz, thought ‘I’m just going to wait’. We have seen this time and time again in history, and it’s always the same.
“I would come out and set about him. The first time we fought, we were amateurs. The second time [my then-trainer] Johnathon Banks told me: ‘Box him, stretch him out, let him gas’. That was the wrong strategy, now I look back. I should have been more aggressive in the early rounds because while I was boxing, he was being aggressive. Then I got tired. So I should have just gone for him. If I fought him again, I would press him.”
