Dillian Whyte says he doesn’t believe he will be kept waiting for as long as before for a world title fight if he can get back to the top of the ranking again.

Whyte makes his return to the ring at Wembley Arena on Saturday night against Jermaine Franklin, his first fight since being stopped by Tyson Fury in a WBC heavyweight title fight at Wembley Stadium in April.

He had spent nearly three years at the top of the WBC rankings before he got his shot, but Whyte does not expect a similar wait ever again,

“They made me wait too long,” Whyte said. “When I was ready, when I was in my prime they made me wait years and years, so the title fight just got kicked into the long grass. So, when it came along I wasn’t excited.

“I think things will progress a lot faster this time, I just need to win some fights. It’s heavyweight boxing, if I knock one or two people out then, bam, I’m right back in.”

It will also be Whyte’s first fight since Buddy McGirt became his trainer.

The Londoner, who has a home in Portugal, was living out of a suitcase in Los Angeles for his training camp with McGirt, who took on Whyte despite a full book of clients. Whyte said he was impressed with McGirt as soon as they met.

“Surprisingly he knew a lot about me.,” Whyte said. “He said a few things that actually showed he was paying attention.

“Buddy is very professional, so while he is training 4-5 guys at the same time, he has his schedule worked out because he wants to give you his full attention.

“Buddy doesn’t change you, he adds little bits and pieces and tries to make your style stronger.

“He says you can do whatever you want providing you can explain it to me and it makes sense and it works. He didn’t say I need to get up on my toes and bounce, the only thing he told me was that I don’t have to kill everything with one punch.

“He said: ‘you’re strong as f--- but you need to tighten things up and deliver with less effort. This has been a fairly quick turnaround, we’ve still got a lot to work on.”

But Whyte has dismissed the view by some that he has little left and says he expects to be around at heavyweight elite level for some time yet.

“I’m very adaptable, I know how to survive,” he said. “There are the two things I have done since I was a child – I know how to survive and I know how to fight.”

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.