Dillian Whyte vs Joe Joyce

On Saturday April 5 at the magnificent new Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, Queensberry mark the beginning of its broadcast partnership with DAZN with a night of mighty heavyweight action.

The huge show is rightly titled ‘Heavy Impact’ due to the inclusion of three heavyweight headliners, plus the professional debut of 2024 British Olympian Delicious Orie.

Sitting top of the bill is a cracking crossroads encounter between former world title challenger Dillian Whyte taking on former WBO Interim world champion and 2016 Olympic silver medalist Joe Joyce.

A local South London feud will be settled under the lights in Manchester when two-weight world champion and 2016 British Olympian goes up against world cruiserweight title challenger Richard Riakporhe.

The hat-trick of heavyweight confrontations is completed by English champion David Adeleye facing London rival Jeamie TKV Tshikeva.

Dillian Whyte (31-3, 21 KOs) hails from Brixton and was propelled into the heavyweight limelight back at the end of 2015 when he took on former amateur rival Anthony Joshua for the British and Commonwealth titles. The fight quickly developed into a shootout before Joshua scored the decisive knockout in the seventh round. Whyte quickly rebuilt, teamed up with trainer Mark Tibbs, and won the WBC International title against David Allen in July 2016 before winning the British title three months later by stopping Ian Lewison.

He secured his place in the big time with a defeat of Derek Chisora in an epic lash in December 2016, following up with notable wins over Robert Helenius plus former world champions Lucas Browne and Joseph Parker.

Whyte successfully rematched Chisora in December 2018 before winning the WBC Interim world title in July 2019 by overcoming the rated Oscar Rivas. He the lost and subsequently won back his Interim champion status against Alexander Povetkin before getting his shot at the full world title in April 2022 against Tyson Fury at Wembley Stadium, where he fell to a sixth round stoppage.

Whyte has since rebuilt with three straight wins over Jermaine Franklin, Christian Hammer and Ebenezer Tetteh.

Joe Joyce (16-3, 15 KOs) is seeking to restore himself to the elite heavyweight picture following his unexpected setback against Derek Chisora in July 2024. Previously, The Big Juggernaut suffered a double defeat to the Chinese giant Zhilei Zhang, where he lost his status as WBO Interim world champion.

Prior to his Zhang reverses, Joyce, 39, was considered as the emerging force of the heavyweight division with the run of victories that took him to Interim champion status. On teaming up with Frank Warren and Queensberry, Joyce first defeated former world title challenger Alexsandr Ustinov before taking on the American Bryant Jennings to win the WBA Gold title.

He memorably took home a clutch of title belts - British, Commonwealth, European, WBC Silver and WBO International - following his defeat of now IBF world champion Daniel Dubois at the end of 2020, before recording victory over Christian Hammer and then a show stopping knockout of former world champion Joseph Parker.

Lawrence Okolie (21-1, 16 KOs) is a two-weight world champion having won titles at both cruiserweight and heavyweight. The former British, Commonwealth, European, WBA Continental and WBO International champion became WBO world cruiserweight champion in March 2021 with a sixth round knockout of Krzysztof Glowacki at Wembley.

He made three successful defences of his WBO world title before coming up against Chris Billam-Smith in Bournemouth where he was defeated via majority decision in May 2023, having clearly outgrown the weight. In May 2024 he stepped up to the new Bridgerweight division and won the WBC world title with a blistering first round stoppage of Lukasz Rozanski in Poland.

Without making a defence, Okolie joined forces with Frank Warren and Queensberry to make his move up to heavyweight and introduced himself to the division with a stunning first round stoppage of Hussein Muhamed at Wembley in December.

Richard Riakporhe (17-1, 13 KOs) got himself on the title trail back at the end of 2018 when he won the WBA Intercontinental cruiserweight title with his defeat of the previously unbeaten Sam Hyde in Manchester. He defended the belt successfully against highly-rated Belfast man Tommy McCarthy before inflicting a first defeat on Chris Billam-Smith in July 2019.

The British title came into his possession with a unanimous decision victory over Jack Massey in the December before six further wins in non-title fights took him into a WBO world title challenge and a return against Billam-Smith at Selhurst Park, where he was outpointed.

Riakporhe now joins Okolie in the heavyweight ranks.

David Adeleye (13-1, 12 KOs) won the WBO European heavyweight title with victory over Dmytro Bezus in early 2023, making one successful defence, before being put forward for a British title challenge against Fabio Wardley in Riyadh in the October on the undercard of the first Riyadh Season event headlined by Tyson Fury v Francis Ngannou. Wardley secured the stoppage in the seventh round and Adeleye got himself back in the title mix with a stunning first round knockout of Solomon Dacres in December to win the English title.

Jeamie TKV Tshikeva (8-1, 5 KOs) became IBO International heavyweight champion with a strong victory over Michael Webster last time out in February at Wembley. He previously defeated British rival Franklin Ignatius via a sixth round stoppage.