Dillian Whyte says Francis Ngannou must change his team if he is to continue boxing following his defeat to Anthony Joshua last week.
Ngannou was dropped three times and knocked out cold in a second round knockout defeat to Joshua in Saudi Arabia, in what was just his second professional boxing fight, having lost on a contentious split decision to Tyson Fury in October.
Whyte, who was once linked with a crossover bout himself with the ex-UFC heavyweight champion, believes the 37-year-old became ignorant after his valiant performance against ‘The Gypsy King’, in which he dropped the WBC heavyweight champion.
‘The Body Snatcher’, who has had one previous MMA fight and several kickboxing bouts, has urged the Cameroonian to switch up his training team – which was led by Dewey Cooper – if he wants longevity in the sport.
“I picked Joshua to win anyway,” Whyte told IFLTV.
(Photo Credit: Mark Robinson, Matchroom)
“Francis is a big, strong guy, but he hasn’t got the experience.
“No disrespect to him and his team, but he’s working with people who are not boxing people.
“He’s needs to get a proper boxing trainer, because he’s big and he’s strong.
“Obviously, Fury underestimated him. Fury didn’t train properly.
“You could tell from the way Fury was moving around and Francis and his team got ignorant and took too much away from that.
“And then false confidence got him knocked out and also because they focused on the stuff he did against Fury.
“Fury isn’t Joshua. Fury is a better boxer than Joshua and better mover, but Joshua carries power.”
Whyte, 35, will fight for the first time since outpointing Jermaine Franklin in November 2022, when he faces Christian Hammer in Ireland on Sunday.
View this post on Instagram
The Brixton man saw a scheduled rematch with Anthony Joshua last August scrapped after returning a positive drugs test, but he has since been cleared after the investigation concluded that the positive test was caused by a contaminated supplement.
‘The Body Snatcher’, who was stopped in the sixth round of his sole world title attempt against Fury, hopes a victory over Hammer can catapult him back into the heavyweight conversation and even opened the door to a potential bout with Ngannou, which he believes he would win inside the distance.
“He looks the part and he’s strong,” he added.
“He carries power as well.
“He knocked Fury down. I didn’t knock Fury down, so I can’t really say s***.
“But, I tell you what, I would knock out Francis Ngannou though, for sure.”
