By Tim Royner: Former WBA heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin and WBC interim champion Dillian ‘The Body Snatcher’ Whyte have agreed to terms for a fight in 2 to 3 months in April or May in the UK.
The fight will be on Sky Box Office pay-per-view, according to @MikeCoppinger. That’s standard for the 31-year-old Whyte (27-1, 18 KOs), whose fights are avidly followed by his many boxing fans in the UK.
It’s a questionable move in putting Whyte-Povetkin on pay-per-view. He can gain new fans if this fight were shown on regular Sky Sports. However, with the purse requirements for Whyte and Povetkin, it’s perfectly understandable why Matchroom Boxing is putting this fight on PPV. Whyte is now a pay-per-view fighter despite never having fought for a world title.
Beating Povetkin will make an eventual rematch between Whyte and Anthony Joshua much better.
Povetkin catching Whyte at the perfect time
This fight isn’t without some risk for Whyte. Povetkin is highly skilled, can punch, and he’s catching him at a bad time. Whyte is coming off of a hard fight against the 6’7 1/2″ Mariusz Wach last December, which he apparently didn’t train hard for.
Dillian weighed in at a career-high of 271 lbs, and he fought poorly. The 40-year-old Polish heavyweight Wach (35-6, 19 KOs) was more than motivated in giving Whyte one of the hardest fights since his loss to Joshua.
Wach was landing a lot of shots on Whyte, and he had his face looking swollen at the end of the contest. The day after the contest, Whyte sounded like he was talking in slow motion. He looked and sounded bad.
If Povetkin takes it to Whyte with his power shots, he’s got a good chance of winning, as long as the judges or the referee doesn’t change the outcome of the fight. Some boxing fans believe the referees played a part in Whyte’s wins over Joseph Parker, Dereck Chisora, and Oscar Rivas.
Whyte-Povetkin to take place in London or Manchester
The location for the Whyte vs. Povetkin fight will be in London or Manchester on the 25th of April or the 2nd of May. The fight will likely be streamed in the U.S on DAZN. Whyte is the WBC mandatory for champion Deontay Wilder, and he’s set to challenge for that title in 2021.
Dillian must keep winning to ensure that he stays the mandatory. If he loses to the 40-year-old Povetkin (35-2-1, 24 KOs) or whoever else he faces in 2020, then he can forget about fighting for the WBC title
Whyte wanted to fight former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr., but the two offers that were given to him weren’t accepted. Some boxing fans believe Ruiz Jr. wanted similar money that he got for his first fight with Anthony Joshua last June, which was $5 million.
If Ruiz did get that much for the Whyte fight, it wouldn’t have worked. There would have been a lot more to gain by Whyte in facing Ruiz Jr., as that would give him a younger guy, who just recently defeated Joshua. Beating Ruiz in a more impressive fashion than Joshua did would be a HUGE victory.
Whyte vs. Ruiz Jr. would have been huge
It’s unfortunate that Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn wasn’t able to negotiate the Whyte vs. Ruiz Jr. fight, because that would have been a massive fight. Of course, Whyte’s career would have been at risk as well. Ruiz is arguably a better fighter than Povetkin is right now when in shape, and he might have beaten Whyte.
Whyte has become a pay-per-view attraction in the UK without ever winning a world title. His popularity soared after his fight against Joshua in December 2015. The fans didn’t care that Whyte was knocked out in the 7th round, and was only capable of fighting well in the 2nd round.
Something about Whyte creates interest in the UK. Unfortunately, he’s not taken advantage of opportunities that have been given to him. He could have fought Joshua in a rematch last year, but he turned down the offer. In addition, Whyte could have fought in a WBC title eliminator in 2018 but chose to face Dereck Chisora.