Dillian Whyte vs Joe Joyce fight is off

Dillian Whyte vs Joe Joyce fight cancelled

TalkSport broke the news on Tuesday morning, March 4, that Dillian Whyte has pulled out of his fight with Joe Joyce.

The British heavyweights were due to clash in Manchester on April 5, headlining a Queensberry Promotions show, on DAZN.

Lawrence Okolie and Richard Riakporhe co-headline in a heavyweight grudge match, and Olympian Delicious Orie is set to make his pro debut, so its likely the show will go on.

TalkSport confirmed that three different and reliable sources have all confirmed Whyte is out with an injury. Promoter Frank Warren and his matchmakers will likely find a replacement for 'The Juggernaut'.

One source mentioned that Jermaine Franklin, who fought both Dillian Whyte and Anthony Joshua, is in the running.

36 from Brixton, 'The Body Snatcher' was all set to fight Joyce in what would have been his fourth fight back since defeat to Tyson Fury for the WBC and Ring Magazine heavyweight titles in 2022.

The Jamaican-born boxer has endure some difficult times of late, his lucrative rematch with Anthony Joshua was cancelled on fight week due to an adverse finding in his pre-fight drugs test, which his team challenged and was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing.

He has since forced both Christian Hammer and Ebenezer Tetteh to retire in fights against him in 2024, in rounds three and seven respectively. Both bouts were abroad, in Ireland then Gibraltar, so his match with Joyce was due to be his first fight back in England in two-and-a-half-years. 

In their press conference to announce the fight last month, Whyte called Joyce 'boring'. This was a response to Joyce telling the media that he was going knock Whyte out.

Dillian said, “Joe Joyce said he’s going to knock me out on the 5th of April – we’ll see. Joe Joyce is going to put me to sleep but not by knocking him out because he’s f--cking boring. He’s the only man I know who can put coffee to sleep. Boring as f--k. Great fighter, but a boring guy.”

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