Dillian Whyte

Dillian Whyte (born 11 April 1988) is a British professional boxer who has formerly competed as a kickboxer and mixed martial artist.

Whyte was born in Port Antonio, Portland, Jamaica, on 11 April 1988.

Whyte moved with his family to the United Kingdom at 12 years of age.

His paternal grandfather was an Irishman named Patrick Whyte, who emigrated to Jamaica from Dublin, Ireland.

Whyte has also talked about having his first child at 13.

Of his early life Whyte has spoken of performance in academia at school in England, while adding: "I had no schooling at all when I lived in Jamaica."

As Whyte mentioned on iFL TV numerous times, 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 influencing experience 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."

Originally, Whyte was a professional kickboxer, to which he became two-time British heavyweight kickboxing champion by claiming the BIKMA super-heavyweight British 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.

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 hugely destructive right cross only 12 seconds into the round; ultimately winning by knockout (KO) at The Troxy.

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.

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.

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.

At regional level, he has held multiple heavyweight championships, including the British title from 2016 to 2017.

As of October 2021, he is ranked as the world's fifth-best active heavyweight by The Ring magazine, and the fourth-best active heavyweight by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and BoxRec.

He has been ranked among BoxRec's top 10 heavyweights since 2016, reaching his career-high ranking of No. 2 at the end of August 2021.

His knockout-to-win percentage stands at 68%.

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.

He has held the WBC interim heavyweight title twice between 2019 and 2022.