Dillian Whyte has appointed a new head coach as he looks to bounce back from the devastating defeat he suffered in his first world title fight.
“The Body Snatcher” earned his long-awaited world title shot against WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in April, with the latter winning by sixth-round TKO at Wembley Stadium in London.
After parting ways with longtime trainer Mark Tibbs in 2020, Whyte moved to Portugal for his fight camps overseen by Xavier Miller and Harold Knight until his recent loss to Fury.
The 34-year-old has now announced that he is moving to California for his next training camp ahead of his comeback fight later this year.
Whyte will work with a new coaching staff which will be led by USA coach Buddy McGirt.
McGirt is a former titleholder who had 80 professional fights before coaching Arturo Gatti, Antonio Tarver, Hasim Rahman, Paulie Malignaggi and Sergey Kovalev.
“Buddy was a two-time world champion, he’s fought a lot of good guys and also been in the corner of a lot of top guys,” Whyte told Sky Sports.
“He’s been around, had years and years of world title experience and I think that’s why I need at this point in my career, someone who can make small adjustments and who has a little more experience in big fights.”
After suffering such a resounding defeat last time around, many expected Whyte to return to the title hunt against a favorable opponent, but the Jamaican-born Londoner has no interest in warm-up bouts.
Whyte wants a rematch with Anthony Joshua, whom he rocked hard before being stopped in seven rounds when they fought for the British and Commonwealth title in December 2015.
The heavyweight knockout artist says he’ll be ready to step in and take on his longtime rival, if a much-discussed bout with Fury at the Principality Stadium on December 3 doesn’t go through.
“If the Fury fight doesn’t happen with him and Joshua, Joshua and I can fight in December if he wants,” Whyte said.
“He’s training for this, he’s ready for this, he’s ready to face Fury, so if that fight doesn’t happen, I’m going to step in and fight with Joshua.”
While Fury insists he won’t fight Joshua after failing to meet his deadline earlier this week, boxing promoters Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn still seem to be hard at work behind the scenes to make the biggest fight ever. British history.