Whyte is in great physical shape, is an upset possible?

Mostly hype.

Looking great against cans is great, and it's normal for half decent prospects, but they don't all make it.

Whyte looked poor last time out and hasn't had a top quality win (or performance) for a good while... Plus he's at the kind of age where decline is expected.

Even so, it takes a lot of hype for the unproven prospect to be such a heavy favourite.

Or if Whyte really is shot.

Or if Itauma just gets lucky and lands something big nice and early.

Of course, narratives wouldn't allow for these possibilities afterwards - it'd be proof that Itauma was a top contender for beating Whyte, because it's convenient.


Then again, maybe Whyte's really in genuinely good shape, turns back the clocks and it turns out Itauma really is special... But it's consistency at a good level that proves that, and he's understandably being managed carefully so far.

 

Itauma is faster and has better reflexes.

Whyte's footwork is rather poor, he has little lateral movement and he's never been difficult to hit. On top of that, he's older now and has had some periods of inactivity - he didn't fight at all in 2023 and this will be his first fight in 2025.

Whyte has not had a meaningful win since 2018, seven years ago. Hammer was badly faded, and Tettah was stopped in round 1 by Clarke and by Dubois, while it took Whyte 7 rounds. Povetkin was faded and sick - he was suffering from long Covid.

Prediction: Itauma by KO, round 3 or 4.

 

In the face off Itauma said he doesn't think about the outcome of the fight, he just focuses on the "gameplan" and the "gameplan" doesn't call for a long fight.

More evidence of the Davison strategy coming into play, what happens if Whyte refuses to play along? Its quite funny though seeing their complete opposite approaches to the fight. Instead of planning out every move, Whyte says he is just going to show up and fight.

 

Not unless he gets a transplant for that glass jaw he's packing!

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/dillian-whyte-has-a-glass-jaw.653958/

 

If Fury used Ituama for sparring then he must be decent and pretty tough. On paper Whyte has a punchers chance that's it even if he's not shot to pieces and a punchers chance is crap in boxing.

If Ituama gets chinned by Whyte then he's pure hype.

 

Respect to Whyte he has obviously put in the physical preparation, so the miracle of him beating Itauma has been improved a few percentage points.

Whyte has to go out there and do his thing, there is no pressure on Whyte as he is the big underdog, so making an impression in the fight will bring kudos to Whyte.

 

The real question is technically how good is Whyte?

 

Better than most people give him credit for, but he has obvious flaws that he used to cover with his physicality.

 

Verry possible. Itauma has zero defense, just swings like a five year old. Pure hype job.

 

Far better than Itauma, who is terrible technically.

 

Itauma is more windmill puncher than Wilder ever was. look at pics and every punch starts from behind his body, while his off hand is below his waist.

 

It's possible but keep in mind he's got physical problems in his build, feet are down below his knees. That's pathological. He's got a tough road to hoe here.

 

A damning assessment of Fury's second best win...
(There's a reason his third best ran a ****ing mile from repeated offers to fight...)

If Whyte's anywhere his best and Itauma isn't every bit of what he's hyped up to be, it should be an easy night for Whyte.

Of course - we know Whyte's declined, we just don't know how much... And we don't really know how good Itauma is, yet.

 

You don't know what you're watching

 

Because Whyte now is very far removed from the fighter he was 7-8 years ago. He had already suffered multiple knockdowns and brutal KO losses by the time he got flatlined by Fury and struggled against Jermaine Franklin - and that was 3 years ago, in 2022.

The Dillian Whyte of today is absolutely shot to pieces.