Dillian Whyte has provided some information on the injury that forced him to withdraw from his April 5th showdown with Joe Joyce.
Whyte and Joyce were set to lock horns at the Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester on the Queensberry ‘Heavy Impact’ card, however news broke earlier this week that the Brixton man had pulled out.
A finger injury was the reason cited for ‘The Bodysnatcher’s withdrawal from what would have been his first fight on British soil in two-and-a-half years.
And the 36-year-old has today explained how he damaged his finger whilst in training camp – and it isn’t how one might have expected.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Whyte revealed he “crushed” part of his finger as a result of getting it caught in between two dumbbells.
“I was training as usual, doing my two or three sessions per day.
“And there was a guy training next to me whilst I was doing shoulder press.
“One of the weights he was using rolled beside me, and when I went to put my weight down, my finger got caught between the two dumbbells.
“It basically crushed the whole front part of my finger right down to the bone.
“I still wanted to fight and I didn’t tell anyone in my team, I just took a few days off and said I had a chest infection.
“But I can’t make a fist.”
It is unclear when Whyte will be fit to return to the ring, however the show goes on and Queensberry have stated that efforts are being made to find a replacement opponent for Joyce.
Reports suggest the current frontrunner is Croatian heavyweight Filip Hrgovic, who was last out in June when he was stopped by former ‘Juggernaut’ opponent Daniel Dubois in Riyadh.
Joyce’s fight against Whyte was being billed as a ‘loser leaves town’ affair, and he can ill afford to suffer what would be a fourth defeat in five fights if he is to have any aspirations in the upper echelon of the heavyweight division.
