Dillian Whyte Confronts Ring Announcer Over Major Nickname Blunder

Dillian Whyte was visibly angry and in the mood to start the action early ahead of his much-anticipated showdown with Moses Itauma on Saturday night.

However, the target of his rage wasn’t his opponent, but rather ring announcer Thomas Treiber. The MC made the faux-pas of forgetting Whyte’s correct nickname of ‘The Body Snatcher’, prompting an expletive-laden outburst from the Jamaican-born British fighter.

This isn’t the first occasion that pre-fight antics have caused Dillian Whyte’s anger to erupt. During a 2016 episode of ‘The Gloves Are Off’ on Sky Sports, Whyte responded to Derek Chisora throwing a glass of water over him by attempting to attack his opponent while security desperately attempted to restrain the Brixton fighter.

Why Dillian Whyte was So Upset Over Ring Announcer’s Nickname Error

Before Whyte made his way to the stage in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Treiber referred to ‘The Body Snatcher’ as ‘The Baby Snatcher’, a title with a very different meaning.

Speaking with Seconds Out following Treiber’s mistake, Whyte was fuming: “Thomas Treiber, I respect him as a professional, but clearly, he’s unprofessional.” Whyte then spotted the ring announcer and bellowed:

“Thomas, come here and speak to me. That’s wild. I’ll rush him – joking! What was with that, man?’ Whyte demanded to know. Treiber, for his part, couldn’t apologise enough.

“I apologise. It was a mistake. I wrote it down and the wrong word came out. It was an honest mistake.”

Despite being more experienced than Itauma, Whyte enters Saturday’s contest as a massive underdog.

The 20-year-old is looking to secure victory to put him a step closer to a world title shot with many top names in the business tipping the Slovakian-born fighter to reach the very top. Lennox Lewis backed Itauma to reach the summit of the division, stating “Itauma is the next coming,” Lewis went on to add: “We’ve got a lot of heavyweights and great fighters coming out of Britain right now. Moses is definitely one of them.”

Undisputed Heavyweight Champion Oleksandr Usyk also echoed Lewis’ praise of Itauma. The Ukrainian fighter added “Moses Itauma, I think is a great fighter. Young. 20 years old.” Usyk went on to say “I think Itauma has a big future.” Itauma will have Usyk in his sights should he be victorious against Whyte.

Dillian’s last bout produced a victory over Ghanaian Ebeneezer Tetteh in Gibraltar with the African fighter forced to retire in round seven. This took Whyte’s record to 34-31-3. By comparison, Itauma is flying in his pursuit towards the top of the division. Moses’ previous victory saw a fierce second-round knockout of Mike Balogun in Glasgow. Itauma will be looking to replicate Alexander Povetkin and Tyson Fury’s performances against Whyte and secure yet another knockout win.