It is always said that with heavyweight boxing one shot can change everything. Most times one shot doesn’t come, really. Today it did it.
Alexander Povetkin overpowered Dillian Whyte early in the fifth round with a monstrous header, causing Whyte (27-2, 18 KO) to come out before he even hit the canvas, and place Whyte’s shot at his WBC heavyweight title, in a violent manner.
Here is the knockout, thanks to DAZN:
The 40-year-old Povetkin – he actually turns 41 on September 2 – had fallen twice in the fourth round, once on a left hook and again on a left top shot, but he found a big opening on Whyte and made things ready off just 30 seconds into the fifth round.
As for the following, it seems likely that it will be a rematch. Promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed post-fight that Whyte, 32, has a rematch clause, and that they plan to implement that and put it on Povetkin-Whyte 2 by the end of 2020. Povetkin now holds the interim WBC heavyweight title, but only Whyte was guaranteed a next shot at the WBC belt held by Tyson Fury who came into this game, not Povetkin.
