Dillian Whyte says he didn’t hit Alexander Povetkin with any of his best shots in their fight last summer on August 22, and he believes he’ll knock him out in their rematch next month on November 21 in the UK.
Thus far, Whyte hasn’t said anything about retiring if he loses a second time to Povetkin by knockout. That might be something he should explore.
Povetkin and Whyte will be fighting for the interim WBC heavyweight title, which is the same temporary strap that Dillian won last year in beating Oscar Rivas. The winner will be the WBC mandatory, but they probably won’t get a title shot until 2022 at the earliest.
If Whyte doesn’t score a knockout of Povetkin, he could wind up getting stopped for a second time by him.
Whyte (27-2, 18 KOs) appeared to connect with full force in dropping former WBA heavyweight champion Povetkin (36-2-1, 25 KOs) two times in round four at the Matchroom Boxing Fight Camp at Brentwood, Essex.
Povetkin got up from the two knockdowns and somehow made it out of the round without getting stopped.
Dillian, 32, will need to land something big in their rematch because his chances of ever getting a title shot against the winner of the Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury fight will evaporate for good if he loses to Povetkin a second time.
Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn is still hoping that the World Boxing Council will reinstate him as immediate WBC mandatory to Fury (30-0, 21 KOs) if he beats Povetkin on November 21, meaning that he’ll be able to force a title shot by February next year.
But with the way that the WBC has gone quiet on that subject suggests that Hearn won’t get his wish of Whyte being able to fight Fury next February.
“I was controlling the fight, I was dropping him with punches that weren’t even landing properly,” Whyte said to Sky Sports. “If I hit him with one of my punches properly, I’m very heavy handed, I can hit hard and if I connect properly he won’t be getting up for sure!”
Whyte had Povetkin down with some hard shots, but he couldn’t land with enough power to knock him out.
Povetkin will be setting traps for Whyte in the rematch and looking to catch him with another big uppercut, a punch that he’s always been vulnerable against; Joshua, Rivas, and Joseph Parker all hurt Whyte with uppercuts.
Whyte hasn’t fixed that flaw in his game, and you’ve got to believe he’ll continue to be vulnerable to that punch in the rematch with Povetkin.
Whyte leans forward a lot because of his habit of throwing left hooks and body shots. For Dillian to get maximum power on his punches the way that he needs to, he has to lean forward when throwing. That’s where Povetkin will take advantage of the situation by hitting him with uppercuts.
