{"id":485298,"date":"2026-03-20T05:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T05:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/485298\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T05:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T05:37:09","slug":"matchroom-cools-anthony-joshua-dillian-whyte-fight-talk-for-summer-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/485298\/","title":{"rendered":"Matchroom Cools Anthony Joshua\u2013Dillian Whyte Fight Talk For Summer Return"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxing247.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add East Side Boxing as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770669047_552_google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEV0p2ZUdsdVp6STBOeTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?ceid=US:en&amp;oc=3&amp;hl=en-US&amp;gl=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow East Side Boxing on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot really. I mean, I don\u2019t believe so,\u201d said Frank Smith when asked about Whyte as a potential opponent, in comments to BoxingScene. \u201cAnything can happen in boxing, but I don\u2019t believe so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Instead, Matchroom\u2019s focus remains on getting Joshua into the right condition before making any decisions on opponents or dates. The former heavyweight champion has returned to full training following the incident in Nigeria earlier this year, and the emphasis is on readiness rather than rushing into a matchup, even as interest in his next move continues to build.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would be great to get him back out in the summer,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBut he\u2019s back in full training now. He\u2019s got to be right, he\u2019s got to be prepared and ready.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Joshua has not fought since his sixth-round stoppage win over Jake Paul in December, while Whyte has been out of the ring since his first-round defeat to Moses Itauma last August. Going up against a puncher like Dillian, even after his poor showing, would still be risky.<\/p>\n<p>For now, the message from Matchroom is simple. The Whyte fight is not being pursued, and Joshua\u2019s return will be shaped by his condition rather than speculation around familiar names.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cNot really. I mean, I don\u2019t believe so,\u201d said Frank Smith when asked about Whyte as a potential&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-485298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}