Dillian Whyte the First Part of Anthony Joshua's Plan for Heavyweight Domination
Every time the A-Team came up trumps yet again at the end of an episode of the TV show, colonel John "Hannibal" Smith would utter his famous catchphrase: "I love it when a plan comes together".
Promoter Eddie Hearn could be set to reprise the role of Hannibal this time next year. However, he's not going to lead a band of soldiers to somehow knock up a sophisticated piece of weaponry from bits found in a barn, plus a random welding torch, to get the better of a bunch of criminals.
No, Hearn's plan is all about heavyweight domination. And in Anthony Joshua, he feels he has a fighter capable of achieving the goal.
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The Olympic gold-medal winner from the 2012 Games continues his professional career on December 12 as he faces rival Dillian Whyte.
The pair have a well-documented rivalry that stretches back to their amateur days—Whyte knocked Joshua down on his way to a points win in 2009, and that result has rankled with the loser ever since.
Now the current Commonwealth champion gets to settle an old score, and claim the vacant British title to boot, at the O2 Arena in London.
Whyte, however, hasn't ever been a long-term target for Joshua and his promoter. Instead, he is merely viewed as a stepping stone along the way to bigger and better things.
Hearn confirmed as much in an interview on talkSPORT radio (h/t George Pitts of talkSPORT): "For us, we’re looking at getting through [the] Dillian Whyte [fight], then in March time Joshua will be out again. Next summer is the period for us where we really want to be challenging for the heavyweight world title."
Joshua had been talked about as a potential world champion even before he turned pro.
His triumph at the London Olympics inevitably led to suggestions he could convert his amateur success to the paid ranks. If anything, he looked more suited to life as a professional.
Freed from the need to score points with punches, Joshua has delivered 14 straight knockout wins. Admittedly, none of them have been remotely competitive, suggesting either he's that good or there has been some uneven match-making.
However, experienced American Kevin Johnson was meant to be the man to push him. Instead, Joshua got the job done inside two rounds in May.
Then, Gary Cornish was viewed as a tricky hurdle to clear. The Scotsman was 6'7" (an inch taller than Joshua) and unbeaten in 21 fights. He lasted all of 97 seconds in September.
Now Joshua gets to headline a pay-per-view card on Sky Sports just over two years on from his debut. The 26-year-old is already the star attraction after fighting all of 25 rounds.
The O2 Arena was sold out within six hours, according to Sky Sports. Considering the rest of the card was yet to be announced at that time, that's some feat for a heavyweight prospect.
Whyte, however, doesn't quite see what all the fuss is about.
"The Villain" said of his foe, per David Anderson of the Mirror, "He [Joshua] is just so boring. He's a good fighter, but as a salesman, he's just boring. He's so boring—even I get bored thinking about how boring he is."
However, Joshua doesn't need to be a salesman. All he needs to do is keep knocking people out in the ring and then smile for the cameras afterwards.
If he does just that against Whyte, it opens up a number of potential paths for the future.
Compatriot Tyson Fury now holds the WBA and WBO belts, having dethroned a seriously gun-shy Wladimir Klitschko in Germany in November.
Fury also briefly had the IBF version in his possession, but he was stripped of that belt for failing to agree to a defence against mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Glazkov.
There is another Englishman back on the scene, too. David Haye's comeback against Mark de Mori in January will be watched with great interest by the rest of the division.
Joshua, meanwhile, is now No. 2 in the WBC rankings, though quite how that has happened remains unclear. Fellow heavyweight Eddie Chambers revealed his displeasure on Twitter (WARNING: Initial tweet contains language NSFW):
Deontay Wilder is the current WBC champion, and an Anglo-American clash in the summer of 2016 would have appeal on both sides of the Atlantic.
However, speaking to Nick Parkinson of ESPN.co.uk, Joshua made his ideal schedule clear: "If everything goes well then it seems 2016 has to be a big year and towards the end of 2016. So September for Haye, that makes sense, and December to fight Fury."
The March date that Hearn mentioned could well be against Dereck Chisora, an experienced heavyweight who Matchroom announced as a late addition to the O2 card.
Whoever he ends up facing, it seems Joshua is going to be busy over the next 12 months. First, though, he gets the chance to avenge a painful loss against a familiar foe.
But, if Hannibal Smith and the A-Team taught us anything, it's that you always have to overcome adversity to reach your goal. There's still a long way to go for the plan to come together for Hearn and Joshua.
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