Dillian Whyte confirms split with trainer Mark Tibbs

[Ruthless-RKO]

From Sky Sports

Dillian Whyte has parted company with trainer Mark Tibbs ahead of his WBC interim title defence against Alexander Povetkin.

The British heavyweight has worked with Tibbs for the last four years on his rise towards a world heavyweight title fight, but announced an amicable split after relocating his training camp to Portugal for the Povetkin fight on August 22, live on Sky Sports Box Office.

Whyte has secured a WBC mandatory title fight following wins over rival contenders such as Derek Chisora, Joseph Parker and Oscar Rivas in recent years, and voiced his gratitude to Tibbs.



Announcing the split on social media, Whyte wrote: "Just to let everyone know Mark Tibbs and I are no longer working together as boxer and trainer.

"I'm training in Portugal and Mark has a young family and his own new gym in the UK. It means it just hasn't worked out in the way we had both hoped.

"Mark came into my team four years ago and has helped turn me into the world class boxer that I am today. Mark is a great trainer and I will always be grateful to him and his Dad for all they have done."

Thoughts?

[dookus]

To my eye, although Whyte has massively improved physically since the Joshua fight (all that work at Loughborough has made a big difference), his skills have not developed that much. (That said, his general ring nouse clearly has, as it often does with high-level experience).

Anyone who doesn't stand right in front of Whyte has a good shot at outboxing him for sustained periods, and anyone who puts pressure on is going to land with some regularity. Whyte has been able to tough it out so far one way or the other, but Povetkin is a level above the likes of Chisora, Rivas and the Parker he faced. (Don't forget: Parker completely outboxed Whyte before the butt, and still nearly caught up with Whyte late after spending ten rounds fighting through treacle).

So Whyte had better get in someone with a fine grasp of the tactics needed to beat Povetkin. Unless the Russian has aged a lot more since the AJ fight, or is turning up for a payday, he's more than capable of beating the contest out of Whyte by the halfway mark.

[THEBUTCH]

Glad to hear it was amicable

I think Tibbs did an excellent job with Whyte. He got the best out of him and I didn't think Whyte would have reach the level he has.

[Counter-puncher]

Whyte has massively improved physically since the Joshua fight (all that work at Loughborough has made a big difference.

Is ‘work at Loughborough’ a euphemism for something? Like saying he’s had the odd night out with Kid Galahad’s well-known scamp of a brother?

[Autobarn]

Against Rivas, Whyte showed some good skills. Good repertoire and timing. Every time he’s switched in for a good opponent, he demonstrates improvement. I like him, he doesn’t have the reach or Fury or power of Joshua. No great size or speed. But with experience and growing skills he keeps putting it together. A shame he and Tibbs can’t get together anymore as they seemed to be a winning combination.

How about Nigel Benn? Saw the video of him trying to sharpen up Dillian’s jab. Does Benn take on & develop fighters?

[jameswilson]

Richard Riakkporh has left him as well.

[margaret thatcher]

Say it correctly, 'the Dillian Whyte managed Richarrd Riakporhe'

[margaret thatcher]

Isnt tIBbs like mid 50s or something, how young is a young family these days, guess he could still be sowing some seeds though

[JC]

From that sequence, seems like Parker has a great chin.

[S98H]

Tibbs done a brilliant job, one of the best trainers in the country. Will be interesting to see who he goes with.

[stujones]

Biggest and most dangerous fight of Whyte's career since Joshua IMO - to be changing trainers now is a huge risk.

I do like Povetkin here. Always have since it was announced. Alot will depend on what Povetkin has left with his age. I just feel though Whyte has gone down and been hurt against relatively light punchers

[THEBUTCH]

It's a fascinating match.

Whyte could have a real battle on his hands here. After the Hunter draw, is the timing right for Whyte to see off Povetkin ? The Povetkin that showed up to box Joshua I would have tipped to beat Whyte, but now the balance has shifted.

[Steveh583]

Could see whyte doing the big 3 a favour by losing before he gets his shot.

[rhino222]

personally...and its just my take on it.....i cant see how it can be amicable some 6 weeks before a big big fight. If all was good they would have had the fight together then parted company amicably.

[SteveDow]

Obviously not amicable if Whyte couldn't even be bothered to call Tibbs and tell him!

[Wee Tommy]

Splitting up half way thru training camp, due to ‘a young family’ sounds very plausible.

[ThereByTheGrace]

Could see whyte doing the big 3 a favour by losing before he gets his shot.

Yep think povetkin can do it but whytes weight will be interesting

[Verdi]

He could try and train with Ben Davidson if the Fury fight gets confirmed. Obviously Ben may not due to old loyalties, but maybe money talks and maybe he was more pissed off about Fury leaving him than he let on to the media.

[dookus]

Against Rivas, Whyte showed some good skills. Good repertoire and timing. Every time he’s switched in for a good opponent, he demonstrates improvement. I like him, he doesn’t have the reach or Fury or power of Joshua. No great size or speed. But with experience and growing skills he keeps putting it together. A shame he and Tibbs can’t get together anymore as they seemed to be a winning combination.

How about Nigel Benn? Saw the video of him trying to sharpen up Dillian’s jab. Does Benn take on & develop fighters?

Alright, I've rewatched Whyte against Rivas. Fair enough. He is an awful lot neater and more consistent (particularly defensively) than he used to be, and he produced some classy bursts of counters and bodywork. He has improved a lot with the rise in competition.

That said, I can't shake the feeling watching Whyte that he does lack that special something. It will be interesting to see how he reacts when Povetkin gets past the jab (as eventually he will). Even in his pretty mediocre showing against Hunter, some of the Russian's combinations were electrifying, and Whyte has been hurt by lesser punchers.

[margaret thatcher]

The perfect commentary in those fights right there

[Glass Joe]

Obviously not amicable if Whyte couldn't even be bothered to call Tibbs and tell him!

Must have been Whyte legal team or Whyte moaning to Kugan for them to take that video down.

Pretty crap thing from Whyte to dump tibbs though a lawyer letter without having a face to face.

[Ruthless-RKO]

“I was very, very shocked and surprised,” Tibbs said to Boxing Scene.

“As the time went on, I wasn’t surprised, if you know what I mean… I’ve been in and out of Portugal a couple of times with the date change [Whyte’s fight with Alexander Povetkin was originally scheduled for May 2, then July 4 due to coronavirus] and I’ve got things happening in London and I’ve had to make sure my family is okay and my son and my parents and my missus’s mum and dad… I made myself available. The message was sent out on the 26th or 28th June to Dillian’s people that I’m available and I should be out there now [with Whyte in his Portuguese training camp]. I should be in camp, and I was hoping to get out there but I never heard nothing until a couple of days ago when Neil Sibley, Dillian’s lawyer, contacted me and said, ‘Dillian’s not going to use your services’.”

In some ways, Tibbs saw it coming.

“I haven’t spoken to Dillian in a long long while,” he stated. “He hasn’t been communicating with me. I spoke to Richie Riakporhe [managed by Whyte/formerly trained by Tibbs] a week or so ago. He said, ‘It’s a bit awkward, Mark, I’m managed by Dillian and I’ve got to go my own way’ and John Harding Jnr spoke to me a while ago. They’re all managed by Dillian.”

[Ruthless-RKO]

They were all coached by Tibbs but now he has to assemble a new stable.

“I’ve got to build again,” he said. “I’ve got a couple of prospects around me, I’ve got a gym opening up in Rainham in Essex and it should be open by the end of the month so I will start building and hopefully make some champions.

“Someone said to me, ‘Mark, with hindsight, you’ve got your new gym, you’ve got this and that, would you say it’s worked out for the best? I’d say, ‘No, I wouldn’t look at it like that’. If I could look back on my life four years ago when I started working with Dillian and seen this ending I wouldn’t have gone through what I went through.

"I feel pretty upset about the lack of communication from Dillian and I feel very upset that over a month ago I sent him an email saying I should be in camp because the date’s official, let’s get rolling and then a couple of days ago I got a letter from his lawyer, who’s a very nice man, Neil Sibley, saying Dillian no longer wants contact or my services. We didn’t have a falling out. He was a little upset when the date changed and I said, ‘It’s not my fault or no one’s fault, it’s the pandemic, the whole world’s in the same situation… It ain’t us’.

"I returned to the UK and when Eddie [Hearn] announced the official date I then sent Dillian and his managers an e-mail in case they hadn’t read a text I sent and I didn’t hear anything until I heard from the lawyer, which I’m disappointed with.”

[Ruthless-RKO]

“Each and every one was a highlight but the Joseph Parker fight… both the Dereck Chisora fights were exciting and gripping and when he cleaned him out in the second fight it was beautiful. Also the Oscar Rivas camp was a very good camp and a very good result," Tibbs said.

“I can only say that we made it to world number one together; world number one and we should have fought for the world title a while back but you know as well as me what’s been going on [with the WBC] and he hasn’t. So I went from an eight-round fighter when I first hooked up with him to a world title contender and it speaks for itself. He had no amateur pedigree as such, so I think we’d done well.

“I wouldn’t want no one to work with me if they don’t want to work with me but they’ve got to come and tell me. He walked in West Ham Boxing Club four years ago and we sat down and had a chat and he sends a lawyer into me to part company. But Richie and John Harding Jnr picked the phone up and they spoke to me so that’s alright.”

[Wee Tommy]

I can see these guys go far with Dillian as their manager. He’s such an intelligent businessman they can’t go wrong.