Probably one of the greatest pieces of salesmanship in boxing history. There was a time, at points between 2018 to 2020 especially, where Hearn had media and legions of fans repeating Joshua was one of the greatest heavyweight champions of all time, destined to reign for a decade, and Whyte was among the "best contenders in history never to have fought for the title". To achieve this perception Hearn had to sell "Dominic Breazeale" and "Carlos Takam" as legendary wins, "Oscar Rivas" as a pay-per-view attraction. Ludicrous, yes. But it actually worked. Millions actually bought into it.
AJ and Whyte fought and beat some top heavyweights of the 2016-2020 period. It wasn't all smoke & mirrors. Never seen anyone saying that. Seen some people claiming Fury is the GOAT, but never AJ.
Hearn did an even better job with Whyte than he did with AJ. Crude, unskilled and glass-chinned, he had no right to be mentioned in the same sentence as the top guys in the division but Hearn conned fans into thinking he's a top 5 contender, unfairly blacklisted out of a title shot (despite failing multiple drugs tests and ducking eliminators). It was to absolutely no one's surprise (those who aren't completely brainwashed by Hearn at least) that when Whyte finally got a title shot, he was the easiest fight Fury has ever had, and that was a damaged past-prime Fury coming off a brutal war with Wilder.
Yes, the job they did in hyping Dillian Whyte was exceptional. The Hearn narrative that he was the outstanding contender being ducked, was widely repeated.
I mean, Whyte did have a solid resume, even if he had to pour himself into all those fights like Rocky had to against Apollo Creed. Joseph Parker. Oscar Rivas. Dereck Chisora x2. .. Dave Allen. Robert Helenius. (2017) Post-Covid Povetkin. (Rematch) Thing is never had a chin, and taking so many shots to scrape by was always going to take something out of him. He was a hard punching, determined fighter with okayish boxing skills sufficent to widely outpint B-class, and to an extent utilize his attributes in the A-class.
"Thing is never had a chin" He had a better chin than Takam, who is generally regarded as being fairly durable. Compare Takam's 8 rounds with Chisora to Whyte's 23. He also took a pasting from an aggressive Joshua before going down in 7. The same Joshua went through Kevin in essentially 1 round.
The boosting of Whyte was mainly there to elevate Joshua. He's Joshua's 3rd best win after all, then regarded as his 2nd. This was basically the line: Hearn: "Wilder is ducking Joshua-victim Whyte, therefore Wilder is terrified of Whyte-conqueror Joshua!" Whyte was a pawn, meant to be Joshua's bodyguard (hence Hearn talked about him fighting Joshua's mandatory Povetkin for him after Pov KO'd Price). The plan was as follows: put Whyte down the WBC route and try to have him beat Wilder. If he doesn't, Wilder-Whyte is still a big money fight and it builds the Joshua fight down the road, while aging and wearing Wilder out in the meantime. If he does, the Americans can be nudged out and the undisputed fight would be an all-Matchroom affair. It also would have functioned as a gauge of Wilder's ability: if Wilder had Breazeale'd Whyte, don't put AJ in with him any time soon. If Wilder went life and death and didn't drop Whyte, make undisputed sooner rather than viewing it as a cash out.
Could add Browne to the names he fought as well It's a good resume for a non title holder Parker Povetkin Browne Chisora Rivas Helenius
It's called marketing bro In politics they call it propaganda. I mean look how they have convinced Americans that Israelis genociding the Palestinians is not a war crime and that Israel is only "defending itself"
