The eagerly-anticipated heavyweight clash between Dillian Whyte and Joe Joyce is off after Whyte sustained a hand injury in the lead-up to their planned matchup.
Whyte and Joyce were booked to face off in Manchester on April 5, but a statement from Queensberry Promotions has confirmed that injury has forced Whyte out of the clash.
“Due to a hand injury sustained during training camp, Dillian Whyte will no longer be able to compete in his scheduled bout on 5th April against Joe Joyce at the Co-Op Live in Manchester,” a statement from the promoters read.
“A replacement opponent is now being finalised for The Juggernaut and an announcement regarding this will be made shortly.”
Whyte’s withdrawal means his time away from the ring will be extended further.
The 31-3 former WBC interim heavyweight champion has won his last three fights since his sixth-round TKO defeat to Tyson Fury at Wembley Stadium back in April 2022, and was looking to continue that momentum with another win to join his victories over Jermaine Franklin, Christian Hammer and Ebenezer Tetteh.
Joyce, meanwhile, is desperate to regain the form that saw him knock out Joseph Parker for the WBO interim heavyweight title.
Since then, he was stopped twice by China’s Zhilei Zhang in back-to-back bouts in 2023. Joyce bounced back with a 10th-round knockout of Kash Ali in Birmingham last March, but lost again four months later as he dropped a unanimous decision to Derek Chisora at The O2 in London.
