Dillian Whyte has reportedly picked unbeaten American fighter Jermaine Franklin as his next opponent for his return trip to US soil this summer.

According to Sky Sports, Whyte is plotting a conquest of America as he steps up his hot pursuit of Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury following his victory over Alexander Povetkin. 

The report also claims that the 28-year-old heavyweight from Michigan has emerged as the leading candidate to face the Body Snatcher in his first fight since the rematch with the Russian in March.  

While Franklin, a former sparring partner of Povetkin's, may not be a household name, he has an impressive undefeated record of 20 wins including 13 knockouts, and beat Hughie Fury's former opponent Pavel Sour in 2019 by a unanimous decision. 

Franklin may have been inactive since 2019, but it seems he still wants the chance to settle the score with Whyte, as he completely dismissed his 'intimidation' tactics and referred to him as a 'bully'.

"That intimidation s—, it doesn't work for people like me," Franklin said to Sky Sports. 

"I've always experienced and always been through rough situations, so a bully is nothing to me.

"A bully is just a regular person. You can try to intimidate me, if you want to bully me, or you can try any of that, but that s— won't do nothing for you, won't get you nowhere.

"You're not going to get inside my head or it's not going to make me feel any different about you.

"It might make me want to beat you up more, but beside of that, it's not going to help you in any way."

Whyte acquired a reputation for being a destructive puncher when he knocked out Dereck Chisora in the eleventh round of their rematch.  

But, as with Povetkin, Franklin insists that heavy-handed approach wouldn't work as well against him. 

"It's the punches that he leaves himself open for, that's why he has the two defeats by knockout," he explained.

"Povetkin caught him with an uppercut. We know that's a real hard punch to be able to take from a puncher.

"Certain times he gets caught with certain punches.

"I don't want to say he has a glass chin, because he took some shots, but if you can catch him at the right time, at the right moments though, you will have a great effect on him."

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