LONDON, England — Dillian Whyte has compared his August showdown against Moses Itauma to the night that David Haye famously lost his undefeated record to Carl Thompson at Wembley Arena in 2004.

Despite his experience at the top level, Whyte, 37, has been installed as a huge underdog against Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs) for their clash in the headliner of the Esports World Cup event in Riyadh on Aug. 16.

Few are giving the Bodysnatcher, a former world title challenger, much of a chance against Itauma who is widely considered most likely to replace Oleksandr Usyk as the next dominant force in the heavyweight division.

Although he is being widely written off, Whyte is old enough to know that opinions will mean little and that history proves that the young, hungry favourite can often come unstuck.

“I don't feel disrespected,” Whyte says from the gym in Portugal in which he trains. “In life everybody's got an opinion.

“Listen, I've been out in the long grass while he's been in the limelight. He's the new man. He's shining. He's knocking everyone out. He's doing this, he's doing that. There's excitement about him and stuff.

“But people’s memories are short in boxing. You remember a few years ago when David Haye fought Carl Thompson? Carl Thompson was just a dangerman that was in the wilderness. No one cared about Carl Thompson. David was blowing everyone away, smashing everyone's heads in. And then, look, Carl Thompson showed up and got the job done.”

The fight in question took place Sept. 10, 2004, when Haye, undefeated in 10 fights all via stoppages, stepped up for his first 12-round fight. Thompson later revealed that people had told him not to take the fight against the big-punching cruiserweight, 18 years his junior, for safety reasons and that even his family did not want to attend because it seemed so dangerous.

But those who did instead witnessed the 40-year-old underdog claim a famous victory. Thompson absorbed much early punishment and effectively allowed Haye to punch himself out before he turned the fight on its head and forced a stoppage late in the fifth.

“I am definitely the Carl Thompson in this scenario. We’ve seen it so many times in history. In this country, David Price vs. Tony Thompson and then recently Martin Bakole and Jared Anderson. It has happened before. There are so many examples so let’s see what happens.”

Thompson had used every ounce of his experience to manufacture his win over Haye. Whyte, in what will be his 35th professional outing, will hold the upper hand in that department against young Itauma.

But he said: "Experience doesn't really matter so much unless I make it matter depending on the fight and what I'm going to do.

“But I don't want to give too much away, because I know these guys [in Team Itauma] like to analyse. That's one of their specialities in the gym, they do a lot of analysis, so I don't want to get into that too much.

“What I will say is that Moses has got one thing in his hand.

“He's got the bliss of ignorance. He hasn't been tested, he hasn't been hurt. Right now he's all positive, he's knocking everyone out, everything's getting great in this career, we've all been there.

“Sometimes it's great when you're inexperienced, because you have a new idea, a new mindset, and you've got these fresh ideas and you just want to crack on and get stuff done. He's got that on his side, he's got youth on his side, and he's got confidence, extreme confidence. But I’m confident in my own ability, too.”