Longtime heavyweight Dillian Whyte returns to the ring against Jermaine Franklin on Saturday in London.
DILLIAN WHYTE (28-3, 19 KOs) vs JERMAINE FRANKLIN (21-0, 14 KOs)
- Day: Saturday, November 26
- Time: 2pm ET / 11am PT (7pm GMT) (main event follows)
- Where: OVO Arena, London
- television/stream: DAZN
- Cost: DAZN is $19.99 per month or $149.99 annually
- Assignment: Heavyweight (unlimited)
- dumbbell: Whyte 238 pounds, Franklin 252
- threatened: No main title
- Pound-for-pound ratings: Not available
- the odds: Whyte 9½-1 favorite (multi-store average)
- Also on the card: Fabio Wardley versus Nathan Gorman, heavyweights; Craig Richards vs. Ricards Bolotniks, lightweight; Sandy Ryan vs. Magali Rodriguez, junior weight class
- Guess: Why KO 7
- Story: Whyte, a 35-year-old perennial contender, begins another comeback against an undefeated but unproven American. The Londoners are coming out of the sixth round knockout defeat to owner Tyson Fury last April, he won the main belt for the first time. That followed a back-to-back match against Alexander Povetkin, who stunned the boxing world by stop Whyte with one punch in the fifth round in August 2020 and got self stop in the fourth round of the rematch next March. Whyte has said he wants to fight Anthony Joshua a second time if he can get past Franklin. Joshua let Whyte lose his first fight, a seventh round knockout in 2015. Franklin, 29, from Saginaw, Michigan, has passed every test in his career but has never faced a head-to-head. with a boxer of the caliber of Whyte. He last fought in May, when he stopped cruiser Rodney Moore for five innings. This will be Franklin’s first game outside the United States. He could have a chance against Joshua if he raises his hand on Saturday.
