EIGHT years ago, Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte met in the ring at the O2 Arena in London as young, undefeated fighters on the rise. Joshua scored a seventh-round knockout and went on to extraordinary fame and riches. Whyte has had his share of paydays since then and became a useful heavyweight, good enough to beat solid fighters but not elite ones.
Joshua and Whyte were scheduled to fight at the O2 Arena for the second time on August 12. But this time, they were fighters on the decline. Then things got complicated. On August 5, promoter Matchroom Boxing sent out a press advisory that announced: “Today, the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) informed Matchroom, the Association of Boxing Commissions and the British Boxing Board of Control that Dillian Whyte had returned adverse analytical findings as part of a random anti-doping protocol. In light of this news, the fight will be cancelled, and a full investigation will be conducted.”
On August 8, Robert Helenius was announced as Joshua’s new opponent. Very few people were surprised when AJ knocked him out in seven rounds four days later.
Let’s look at how we got to where we are today.
Joshua is 33 years old and six years removed from the high point of his career – an 11th-round knockout of Wladimir Klitschko. In his most recent six fights, he’d lost three times (a knockout defeat at the hands of Andy Ruiz and two losses by decision to Oleksandr Usyk). Even in the fights he won, AJ had looked tentative and vulnerable.
Whyte, now 35, had engaged in four fights since 2019 and been knocked out in two of them.
Joshua-Whyte II wasn’t the fight that boxing fans wanted. Initially, there had been talk of Joshua vs Tyson Fury. On September
