Dillian Whyte

Dillian Whyte (; born 11 April 1988) is a Jamaican-British professional boxer who has formerly competed as a kickboxer and mixed martial artist. He held the World Boxing Council (WBC) interim heavyweight title twice between 2019 and 2022. At regional level, he has held multiple heavyweight championships, including the British title from 2016 to 2017; and challenged twice for the Commonwealth title, in 2015 and 2025.

Whyte is also a former kickboxing champion, having held the BIKMA British super-heavyweight title and the European K1 title, and has competed professionally in mixed martial arts.

Early life

Whyte was born in Port Antonio, Portland, Jamaica, on 11 April 1988. Whyte moved with his family to the United Kingdom when he was 12. His paternal grandfather was an Irishman named Patrick Whyte, who emigrated to Jamaica from Dublin, Ireland. Regarding his education, Whyte has spoken of his performance at school in England, while adding: "I had no schooling at all when I lived in Jamaica." As Whyte has mentioned publicly, he had a difficult upbringing in Jamaica, where he was "dodging bullets". Whyte grew up in Brixton, London and fought at Miguel's Boxing Gym. He had spoken of the influence boxing has had upon his early life, by stating: "I didn't do too well at school, to be honest, but boxing saved me and changed my life. And it was going well, because I knew it was my best chance in life."

Professional kickboxing career

Originally, Whyte was a professional kickboxer, to which he became two-time British heavyweight champion by claiming the BIKMA super-heavyweight title, and one-time European K1 champion, while being ranked UK #1 for five years in his weight category of 95 kg+, ending his kickboxing career with a K-1 record of 20–1, before then turning to MMA.

Highlights

• Defeated Daniel Sam (UK) UD-3
• Lost to Chris Knowles (UK) – Went to a deciding round for Knowles to become the new Pain & Glory UK K1 Champion – UD-4
• Defeated Will Riva (UK) to claim the WPKL British heavyweight title KO-3

Professional mixed martial arts career

Whyte made his professional MMA debut on 6 December 2008, at the Ultimate Challenge MMA, on the James McSweeney vs. Neil Grove undercard, where he defeated Mark Stroud with a right cross only 12 seconds into the round; ultimately winning by knockout (KO) at The Troxy.

Amateur boxing career

In his first amateur bout, in 2009, aged 20, Whyte beat Anthony Joshua by unanimous decision over three rounds. He had stated prior to the fight that his trainer Chris Okoh admitted that the decision to agree to the fight was then considered a risk, albeit ultimately accepting the fight to which Whyte had stated, "But I said I'd take it. Sometimes you've just got to take opportunities when they come."

He left one of his amateur opponents in a coma for several weeks due to a KO.

Whyte had a limited amateur record (6–0–0, 5 KOs) because of a dispute with the ABA regarding his kickboxing background, which led him to turn professional in 2011, although trainer Okoh wanted him to remain amateur. Whyte signed with boxing promoter Frank Maloney, after friends of Maloney witnessed sparring sessions Whyte had with David Haye and former UFC light-heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson.

Professional boxing career

Early career

Whyte made his professional debut on 13 May 2011. He fought Tayar Mehmed and won via points decision (PTS) in the fourth round, obtaining the decision of 40–36. On 16 September 2011, Whyte made his second professional appearance against his Lithuanian heavyweight journeyman opponent Remigijus Ziausys. Whyte ultimately won by PTS in the fourth round, obtaining the decision of 40–37.

On 3 December 2011 Whyte defeated Croatian Toni Visic, winning by technical knockout (TKO) in the third round due to referee Jeff Hinds stopping the fight at 1 minute 46 seconds.

The next fight for Whyte was against veteran journeyman Hastings Rasani on 21 January 2012 at the Liverpool Olympia in Liverpool. Whyte scored a PTS win based over Rasani, making it his third win on points.

For his fifth professional bout, Whyte defeated Bulgarian Kristian Kirilov by TKO in the first round at The Troxy, Limehouse on 2 March 2012, which was followed by an additional TKO in his sixth bout in the first round on 19 May 2012 against Georgian Zurab Noniashvili at the Aintree Racecourse, Liverpool. Whyte went on to fight Hungarian giant Gabor Farkas at the York Hall in London on 7 July 2012, winning by second-round KO; it marked the first KO victory in Whyte's professional career.

Two months later on 15 September 2012, Whyte challenged former British heavyweight champion Mike Holden to a bout scheduled for six rounds. Holden was put down once in the second and twice in the third round, to which referee Jeff Hinds stopped the fight. Whyte's last fight of 2012 was against Sandor Balogh, which took place in Bluewater, Greenhithe, Kent on the James DeGale undercard when DeGale fought Hadiliah Mohoumadi for the European super-middleweight title on 13 October 2012. Whyte won the bout but was later stripped of the win due to testing positive for banned substances.

Drug ban

A sample for an in-competition drugs test that Whyte had provided after his victory over Hungary's Sandor Balogh on 13 October was examined and subsequently tested positive for the banned stimulant Methylhexaneamine (MHA). The revelation came while Whyte was en route to a news conference to announce a fight for the English title. The UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) organisation confirmed that Whyte was provisionally suspended from all competition from 5 November 2012. An independent National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP) found that the case warranted a two-year ban. However, Whyte appealed the ban, though the appeal panel retorted by emphasising the confirmed two-year ban; the tribunal had accepted Whyte's claim that he did not knowingly take MHA, but rejected his appeal because he did not do enough to check the supplement's ingredients, as Charles Flint QC, the chairman of the appeal tribunal, explained in his written verdict.

In its first instance decision, the NADP found that Whyte failed to seek professional or medical advice before using the supplement Jack3d, which he had bought over the counter from a nutritional supplement shop. Consequently, they stated that he had "failed to discharge the burden of establishing that he was not significantly at fault" and therefore could not reduce his sanction from two years. The appeal panel agreed with this decision, stressing that the case emphasised "the dangers of athletes taking supplements which contain MHA".

Whyte was thereby banned from all competition with a period of ineligibility from 13 October 2012 to 12 October 2014. The result against Balogh was disqualified by UKAD, but because the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) did not overturn the result, his fight with Balogh is still listed as a victory on boxrec. As Whyte and company exercised the right to appeal under article 13.4.1, they had no further right to appeal under the rules.

Return to the ring

Whyte was cleared to compete from 12 October 2014, since his two-year ban by UKAD and returned to boxing on 21 November 2014 at the Camden Centre in London to fight Ante Verunica, a fight which lasted all of two rounds as Whyte delivered a hard shot that forced a stoppage from referee Jeff Hinds for a TKO victory. On 28 November, one week after his fight with Verunica, Whyte returned to the Camden Centre and put on another dominating display stopping Tomas Mrazek, with Whyte knocking the durable Mrazek down three times in the third round.

On 20 December 2014, Whyte scored another TKO win, this time over heavyweight hope Kamil Sokolowski in three rounds at the City Hall in Hull.

Whyte followed up his Sokolowski win with a KO victory over Marcelo Nascimento on 7 February 2015 at the Camden Centre to which the Brazilian had never been stopped as quickly in his career.

Whyte's next fight after Nascimento was against undefeated Beka Lobjanidze, which took place on 28 February in the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, on the undercard of The World Is Not Enough Belfast boxing card featuring Carl Frampton's defense against Christopher Avalos for the IBF junior-featherweight title. Whyte scored a fourth-round stoppage over Lobjanidze in a scheduled ten-round bout, as Whyte landed a hard left to the side of the head which sent Lobjanidze to the canvas and he was unable to beat referee Phil Edwards' count at 1 minute 10 seconds of round four, winning by KO.

On 1 August 2015, Whyte faced Irineu Beato Costa Junior, at the KC Lightstream Stadium in Hull, on the undercard of Rumble on the Humber featuring Luke Campbell's clash against Tommy Coyle in a WBC lightweight eliminator. Whyte sent the Brazilian crashing backwards to the canvas, and referee Michael Alexander stopped the fight with 2 minutes 41 seconds remaining in the first round as Whyte put Costa back to the floor with a right hand.