Longtime heavyweight contender 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)
- Date: Saturday, Nov. 26
- Time: 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT (7 p.m. GMT) (main event later in show)
- Where: OVO Arena, London
- TV/Stream: DAZN
- Cost: DAZN is $19.99 per month or $149.99 annually
- Division: Heavyweight (no limit)
- Weights: Whyte 238 pounds, Franklin 252
- At stake: No major titles
- Pound-for-pound ranking: None
- Odds: Whyte 9½-1 favorite (average of multiple outlets)
- Also on the card: Fabio Wardley vs. Nathan Gorman, heavyweights; Craig Richards vs. Ricards Bolotniks, light heavyweights; Sandy Ryan vs. Magali Rodriguez, junior welterweights
- Prediction: Whyte KO 7
- Background: Whyte, a 35-year-old perennial contender, begins another comeback against an unbeaten, but unproven American. The Londoner is coming off a sixth-round knockout loss to titleholder Tyson Fury this past April, his first shot at a major belt. That followed back-to-back fights against Alexander Povetkin, who stunned the boxing world by stopping Whyte with one punch in the fifth round in August 2020 and was stopped himself in the fourth round of the rematch the following March. Whyte has said he’d like to fight Anthony Joshua a second time if he can get past Franklin. Joshua handed Whyte his first loss, a seventh-round knockout in 2015. Franklin, a 29-year-old from Saginaw, Michigan, has passed every test in his career but has not faced a fighter of Whyte’s stature. He last fought in May, when he stopped journeyman Rodney Moore in five rounds. This will be Franklin’s first fight outside the United States. He might have a chance to fight Joshua if he has his hand raised Saturday.
