Dillian Whyte faces Alexander Povetkin on Sky Box Office PPV on 8/22

By Boxing News - 06/26/2020 - Comments

By Charles Brun: Just moments ago, Matchroom Boxing announced their four-event Fight Camp schedule, and in a shocker, they have the Dillian Whyte vs. Alexander Povetkin in the finale on Sky Sports Box Office on August 22.

The first three events from August 1 to August 14 will be on regular Sky Sports, which is helpful for the fans. But it’s questionable whether Whyte-Povetkin rates to be put on Sky Sports Box Office PPV, given that it’s essentially a glorified eliminator match for the WBC heavyweight title.

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Fans would be less likely to complain about a NON-champion like Whyte fighting on pay-per-view if he were fighting one of these heavyweights:

  • Deontay Wilder
  • Oleksandr Usyk
  • Luis Ortiz
  • Filip Hrgovic
  • Daniel Dubois
  • Joe Joyce
  • Andy Ruiz Jr

These are all heavyweights that would likely beat Whyte, and make him look bad in the process. Fans would be a lot more willing to watch Whyte fight on pay-per-view if he were facing those types of contenders.

But it’s a different story entirely when you trot in an old-timer in 40-year-old Povetkin with his 1-1-1 record in his last three fights and have Whyte fighting him on pay-per-view.

It’s too bad Eddie Hearn didn’t match Whyte against one of the above guys, but I don’t think he would agree to face any of them. There would be too much risk involved in Whyte losing, and then missing out on his title shot for the WBC strap.

Fans unhappy about Whyte-Povetkin on PPV

Whyte vs. Povetkin isn’t pay-per-view worthy in the eyes of a lot of boxing fans, and there’s already a massive amount of grumbling about it today. There are guys that Whyte could face that would be worthy of it being pay-per-view, but Povetkin isn’t one of them. Here are the facts: Povetkin’s record in his last three fights is 1-1-1, and you can argue that his record should be 1-2.

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In Povetkin’s last contest, he fought to a 10 round draw against Michael Hunter on December 7 on the undercard of Andy Ruiz Jr vs. Anthony Joshua, in Saudi Arabia. Many boxing fans, this writer included, had Hunter winning the fight against Povetkin.

Due to the poor quality fight between Povetkin and Whyte, a lot of British boxing fans are going to save their hard-earned money and not bother to order this on Sky Box Office pay-per-view. You hate to say it, but it’s the WRONG time for Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn to be asking for boxing fans to pay to see a mismatch between Whyte and Povetkin.

This is a fight that might have sold a sliver of buys before the pandemic, but not now given the staggering unemployment numbers in Great Britain, it’s unthinkable to be hocking Whyte vs. Povetkin on pay-per-view. The top 1% of the UK economy is doing well enough to afford pay-per-view events, but for a lot of fans, it’s asking a lot for them to come up with the money to watch Whyte vs. Povetkin.

Matchroom Fight Camp schedule

The first four events will be headlined by these fighters on the following dates at the Matchroom HQ in Brentwood, Essex:

  • Sam Eggington (28-6, 17 KOs) vs. Ted Cheeseman (15-2-1, 9 KOs) on August 1 in week one
  • Terri Harper’s (10-0, 5 KOs) vs. Natasha Jonas (9-1, 7 KOs) on August 7 in week two
  • Felix Cash (12-0, 8 KOs) vs. Jason Welborn (24-8, 7 KOs) on August 14 in Week three
  • Dillian Whyte vs. Alexander Povetkin in the finale in week four on Sky Sports Box Office

Image: Dillian Whyte faces Alexander Povetkin on Sky Box Office PPV on 8/22

If Whyte loses to the 40-year-old past his prime Povetkin (35-2-1, 24 KOs), he’ll lose out on his mandated title shot for the WBC heavyweight belt in 2021. Whyte, 32, is supposed to be fighting for the title next year, and he’s made sure of that by pushing the WBC to force the fight.

But Whyte still needs to beat Povetkin, and that’s not a certainty due to his limitations as a fighter. Whyte is an excellent aging B-level guy, but you can argue that he should have at least four defeats on his record.

Technically, Whyte (27-1, 18 KOs) is ready the mandatory challenger for the WBC belt after earning the spot after beating against Oscar Rivas last July.

Whyte vs. Povetkin undercard

On the undercard of Whyte-Povetkin, the ensuing fights will be taking place:

  • Katie Taylor (15-0, 6 KOs) vs. TBA
  • Martin Bakole (15-1, 12 KOs) vs. Sergey Kuzmin (15-1, 11 KOs)
  • Luther Clay (13-1, 5 KOs) vs. Chris Kongo (11-0, 6 KOs).

As far as the undercard for Dillian vs. Povetkin goes, Bakole vs. Kuzmin is a decent quality match-up, but far from great. The rest of the fights are ho-hum and hardly worth pay-per-view in Brun’s opinion.

Katie Taylor would be ok to watch if she were facing someone good like Claressa’ T-Rex’ Shields (10-0, 9 KOs), but that’s not going to happen. Shields is too good, and Hearn wouldn’t let Taylor anywhere near her.

Having seen Taylor matched against a lot of weak opposition during her career, it’s about time Hearn put her in with someone with talent like Claressa Shields. Is that too much to ask of Hearn to match Taylor tough for once?