LONDON, England - Dillian Whyte has vowed to fight on in the wake of his crushing 119-second defeat to Moses Itauma.

The Bodysnatcher was taken apart by the 20-year-old prodigy in emphatic fashion at the ANB Arena on August 16 despite the vast experience disparity between the two.

Given the nature of the defeat, which leaves the 37-year-old on 31-4 (21 KOs), it had been suggested that Whyte would opt to retire from the sport which has paid his wages since 2011.

He has kept a low profile since fight night, opting against any snap decisions on his future. But, nine days on, Whyte took to social media to insist that his boxing journey is not over yet.

He wrote: “This is not where my story ends. I may have lost this fight but not the fire that built me.

“Thank you to everyone who’s been standing by me through the highs and lows. I’ll be back.”

Whyte has had a stop-start career since he was beaten by Tyson Fury at Wembley Stadium on April 23, 2022 in what is his only world heavyweight title shot to date.

He returned with a win against Jermaine Franklin seven months later and was set to face Anthony Joshua in a lucrative rematch in August 2023 before he tested positive during a pre-fight VADA test. An investigation later cleared him on the grounds that the result was caused by contamination but he never managed to rearrange the encounter with his British heavyweight rival.

He did not fight again until March 2024, beating Christian Hammer via a bizarre retirement in Castlebar, Ireland before he made Ebenezer Tetteh quit on his stool in Gibraltar on December 15.

Whyte hoped to secure himself an unlikely second crack at the world heavyweight title by somehow derailing the Itauma express train but he will have to go back to the drawing board following the defeat.