Dillian Whyte opens up on battling depression after positive drug test, overcoming starvation in Jamaica and how boxing saved his life after being shot and stabbed in London gang
Dillian Whyte will return to the ring on December 15 to face Ebenezer Tetteh
Whyte opened up on the pain he experienced after his positive test prior to AJ
Star also spoke about his childhood in Jamaica and being in a London gang
Dillian Whyte has known pain before, but the last two years nearly broke him. The failed drug test that cost him the Anthony Joshua rematch didn’t just sideline his career – it plunged him into a deep depression that made him question everything, including his love for boxing.
‘The last two years have been really dark and really cold for me. I was depressed. I gave up boxing. I didn’t care about it anymore,’ Whyte said, sitting across from Mail Sport at a bustling fish restaurant in Nine Elms.
The pain in his eyes was unmistakable as he reflected on the drugs test that nearly ended his career, the times he almost starved to death as a child in Jamaica, and the dangerous path he walked after joining a gang in London.
He didn’t hold back when discussing the betrayals he’s faced in boxing, the struggles of forging his own path, and his ambitions to take on the heavyweight division’s elite.
But first, Whyte had to step out for a routine blood test – part of the mandatory drug screening before his upcoming fight with Ebenezer Tetteh on December 15 at the Europa Point Sports Complex in Gibraltar.
Upon his return, he settled into a meal of eggs, white rice, and beef, before resuming his story. And Whyte opened up on the consequences of the positive drugs test prior to the AJ fight, later found to have been caused by a contaminated supplement.
Dillian Whyte has known pain before, but the last two years nearly broke him
Whyte sat down with Mail Sport to discuss the drug test that nearly ended his career, the times he almost starved to death as a child in Jamaica, and the dangerous path he walked in a gang
Whyte will return to the ring on December 15 to face Ebenezer Tetteh in Gibraltar
Whyte will return to the ring on December 15 to face Ebenezer Tetteh in Gibraltar
‘It’s been a really difficult time for me, more than people would probably think. The last two years have been really dark. It’s nothing I’m not used to, but it’s just hit really hard. I’ve been going through a lot of depression, I’ve been battling. I gave up boxing and I was saying I don’t care about boxing anymore, I don’t want to do it.’
But the fighter in Whyte refused to stay down. Stepping away from the sport gave him clarity, allowing him to regroup and reignite his passion.
‘There was a point when I honestly thought I wouldn’t miss it or return to it, but I have,’ he says. ‘I had the chance to rest, regroup, and realise how much boxing actually means to me and how much I have left to give. So, it’s been bad, but then again, there are positives to take from it.’
That said, the sting of betrayal still lingers. Whyte felt boxing turned its back on him.
‘No one gave me a fighting chance. They just assumed I was guilty,’ he says. ‘They didn’t even give me three or four days to get my things in order to try and fight the case. It says a lot. They picked someone else [Robert Helenius] who had also failed a drug test, and were still happy to make the fight go ahead. Why didn’t they give me a chance to prove myself?’
It’s a familiar story for Whyte – being overlooked, written off, underestimated. His journey from the streets of Brixton, and earlier from the harsh realities of life in Jamaica, has been defined by proving people wrong.
‘I went through hell when I was a child,’ Whyte begins. ‘Being born in Jamaica has its challenges. It’s obviously a third-world country and life doesn’t mean anything there. It can be taken in the blink of an eye.
‘There are people here in the UK with dogs that are treated better than human beings in Jamaica. Over here, if your dog gets sick, you take him to the vet and spend £10,000 to make him better. In Jamaica, if you get sick, you can end up dying from the smallest of things. Or if you have an issues with someone, that could be it. Life doesn’t matter.’
When his mother left for England to build a better future for their family, Whyte was left in the care of relatives who exploited him. He was forced to scavenge through bins for food, vividly recalling that ‘the pain of hunger is crazy.’
‘It was tough given the fact I grew up effectively without a mother,’ says Whyte.
‘The people that were meant to be taking care of me were actually exploiting me. My mother moved to England and was working so hard to send money back to these guys to take care of me and feed me. But, they were just stealing the money, using it for themselves.
‘I never hated my mum, or held anything against her, but I used to think “does she not care about me?” Because she moved to another country and I was left struggling for food, living in a tough environment. Sometimes homeless. But, turns out she was doing amazing things and trying to provide for me but I never received it.’
To make matters worse, the same men who exploited Whyte refused to read his mother’s heartfelt letters aloud, fully aware that the youngster’s lack of education left him unable to read them himself.
But Whyte’s perspective changed as he grew older and came to understand the sacrifices his mother had made. ‘My mum is my hero. To leave your young children and go somewhere uncertain – it’s amazing what she did. That’s why I’m thankful to her and why I do this for her.’
Whyte joined his mother in the UK at 13, and while he finally had a roof over his head and food to eat, life was far from stable. By the same age, he had fathered his first child and fallen in with a gang – a dangerous path that left him both stabbed and shot.
‘You know what, the first thing I thought when I got to England was… this is cold as s***! No, I’m just joking. When I arrived in Brixton I ended up mixing with the wrong crowd. There were some similarities to what it was like in Jamaica in terms of crime,’ Whyte explains.
‘There was also the fact I was in need of a father figure and wanted that presence in my life, so I ended up getting drawn into a gang. I know that doesn’t make a lot of sense as people think it’s just a gang but it’s actually a family unit and a support unit. That wasn’t something I really had.
Whyte, pictured alongside Joseph Parker, felt the boxing world turned their back on him
Whyte considered walking away from the sport for good but rediscovered his love for boxing
Whyte, pictured after his fight with Fury in 2022, is looking to return to the top of the division
‘Being part of a gang made me feel like I had a purpose, made me feel like I was doing something and working towards something. Now when I look back I realise it was the complete opposite.
‘It was dragging me into some really shady situations and getting me into trouble I didn’t need to be in. That being said, it still wasn’t as hard as Jamaica because I had food, I had a place to sleep, I had water, I had electricity. They were all things I hadn’t had before.’
Whyte is adamant he would have died on the streets if he hadn’t discovered kickboxing, which eventually led him to traditional boxing – having captured the BIKMA British super-heavyweight and European K1 titles.
‘If I hadn’t found sport, I would be dead right now,’ Whyte candidly explains. ‘Honestly, I wouldn’t be here today if I didn’t start kickboxing. Sport took me off the streets without me even realising. It filled my day and took up more of my time so I couldn’t get into trouble.
‘I would go to training, then I would go home, then I would have to go on a run or do some other form of exercise. By the time I finished those things I had to go back down to the gym for training again.
‘Also, the gym gave me what the streets gave me without the trouble. It gave me the community, the sense of belonging and being part of something. All the stuff I was craving without the trouble. I felt a sense of achievement when I was sparring with the people who used to beat me up and I was now beating them.’
Mail Sport asked Whyte if he worried about slipping back into old gang habits during his enforced time away from the ring while the investigation into his failed drugs test before the AJ rematch played out.
‘I’m not so far past that time in my life I couldn’t see it happening again, but I am also a grown man now and I have kids,’ he replies. ‘If I was to let myself go back to that life, it would be the most destructive thing I could do. It would be self sabotage and sabotage of the people around me.
When Whyte laces up his gloves this weekend, he’s not just fighting to get a result; he’s fighting for redemption, legacy, and the enduring spirit of a man who refuses to be counted out
Whyte experienced hardships growing up in Jamaica without him mother – who left for England
‘Being part of a gang is no joke. It’s a serious thing and a lot of people I knew died. I was shot and stabbed. Other people I knew were spending a long time in prison, 20, 30 years in prison. So, there is no way I could let myself go back to that point in my life. That’s why I have to keep boxing. I am okay at it and I am doing alright at it so why should I go back to that life?’.
When Whyte laces up his gloves this weekend, he’s not just fighting to get a result against Tetteh; he’s fighting for redemption, legacy, and the enduring spirit of a man who refuses to be counted out.
But will a win over Tetteh be enough to put him back in the mix with the division’s elite?
Whyte acknowledges that his choices outside the ring and the scandals he’s faced have made securing big fights harder than ever. Yet he remains unapologetic about the path he’s chosen.
‘Yeah it might be harder now than before,’ he says. ‘But, I have never been a yes man or that poster boy. I am used to doing things my way. I never toed the line they wanted me to. I’ve made things harder for myself and I know that. Could things have been different if I played the game differently – maybe.
‘At least when it’s said and done, I can look at my career and think I did things my way. I didn’t dilute myself for others. It’s something to be proud of, I didn’t sell out. I did it the hard way but I’ve done it all myself.’
But, at 36, Whyte knows time is not on his side. ‘Inactivity is what has killed my career. I’ve been out of the ring too long. It’s not about who I fight right now—it’s about getting fights and staying busy.’
Nevertheless, Whyte’s hunger remains undiminished and his targets are clear. ‘I want to fight AJ, Wilder, Fury, Zhang, Parker, Dubois, Ruiz—all of them. But until I get into a position where that can happen, I just need to stay active.’