Barry McGuigan has been around boxing long enough to know when a fighter no longer has what it takes to compete at the top.
McGuigan is one of Ireland’s most celebrated boxers and a unifying sporting figure who rose up during a politically turbulent era. He captured the 1985 WBA featherweight world title with a masterful victory over Eusebio Pedroza that ended the champion’s seven-year reign and only lost the belt in the extreme heat of Las Vegas to Steve Cruz.
He retired in 1989, and since then has been involved with his own promotional company, working with fighters like Lawrence Okolie and George Groves, so he remains closer to the sport.
Writing in The Mirror, McGuigan has now suggested that ever-popular heavyweight Dillian Whyte could be close to the end because he can no longer take punches like he once could, judging by his last run out in the ring.
“I said the Whyte fight would end early, and though I gave him half a dozen rounds, I was not that surprised to see him fall in the first. His punch resistance is gone. He was hit with a decent shot and never recovered. That’s boxing.”
That fight was against rising star Moses Itauma, who has stopped 11 of his 13 opponents, nine of them inside the first two rounds.
Despite the loss back in August, Whyte vowed to fight on and is still being linked with a third fight with Derek Chisora next year, despite negotiations already breaking down once earlier this year.
