Joshua vs Whyte: Dillian Whyte says rival is 'insecure' ahead of title fight
Thursday 10 December 2015 16:18, UK
Dillian Whyte has claimed Anthony Joshua is harbouring "a lot of insecurities" about Saturday's British heavyweight title fight.
The unbeaten duo clash at The O2 in an eagerly-awaited bout and Olympic champion Joshua is hot favourite with the bookmakers.
The 26-year-old is widely considered to be a world champion in the making and at Thursday's press conference he was fairly dismissive of the threat posed by Whyte, saying the Jamaica-born fighter could not be compared with the likes of Wladmir Klitschko and Tyson Fury.
But Whyte, who famously got the better of Joshua when the pair were amateurs, was unruffled by his old rival's remarks.
"Klitschko was the world champion, Fury is the world champion," he said. "I am still on the way up, so that is cool.
"For me, it does not matter what he says. I know what he feels in his heart and in his head.
"He can say whatever he wants, he is trying to convince himself. When somebody has insecurities in life, they try to convince themselves.
"When you are starting at something, you have to convince yourself, 'oh, I can do it'. He is just trying to do that.
"There is massive insecurity from him. Every time he does interviews, he is pulling up his shirt and standing like this, to show his physique.
"A lot of big guys have a lot of insecurities."
Joshua and Whyte are knock-out specialists and not many experts are predicting a lengthy fight on Saturday, but Whyte is not so sure.
"You never know," he said. "Nobody thought Fury would beat Wladimir, no one thought Tyson would go 12 rounds.
"It is heavyweight boxing. The fight could be done in the first 10 seconds, it could go 12 rounds, it could go eight, it could go seven.
"He [Joshua] wants to get in there and get fights finished early. I don't know whether he is worried about his condition or his mindset.
"He's like 'you've been the distance, you've been 10 or 12 rounds'. He must be drunk, I have never been past four rounds. The guy is so deluded and so insecure, he just comes out with some ridiculous things."
Regardless, I am going to go onto great things, with this fight or without this fight. But it is a huge prize and we both want to leave it all on the line.
Whyte accepts that Saturday's fight will be "completely different" to their meeting as amateurs but thinks the result that night will be preying on Joshua's mind.
"In life, nobody wants to make the same mistakes twice, so I am sure it will be in his mind," he said.
"He can say it's not in his mind as much as he wants. It is in his mind.
"Regardless, I am going to go onto great things, with this fight or without this fight.
"But it is a huge prize and we both want to leave it all on the line. I hope he comes to fight me because I'm going to fight him."
Joshua vs Whyte is exclusively live on Sky Sports Box Office, December 12, and is now available to order via phone or online.
