By Matt Lieberman: Dillian Whyte and Alexander Povetkin will be fighting on August 22 on DAZN in the finale of Matchroom Fight camp. Michael Coppinger says the Whyte-Povetkin clash has this as the new date.
Povetkin can still punch, but his speed, stamina, and his chin aren’t at the level where they were years ago.
The Whyte-Povetkin fight probably won’t be big enough to motivate the DAZN subscribers to restart their suspended subscriptions for the U.S boxing fans. It’s the wrong two heavyweights. It’s a decent fight, but not good enough to get American fans excited enough to pay to watch it on DAZN.
If Whyte had chosen to fight a good heavyweight like Daniel Dubois, Andy Ruiz Jr, or even Luis Ortiz, people would like to see those fights. Would Whyte be willing to risk his WBC mandatory spot fighting any of those fighters? I don’t think so. Those guys are too good, and the 32-year-old Whyte has looked horrible lately in his wins over Dereck Chisora, Mariusz Wach, and Joseph Parker.
Dillian faces Povetkin in the finale of Matchroom Fight Camp
Whyte vs. Povetkin will take place at Matchroom Boxing’s HQ in the back garden of Eddie Hearn’s childhood home. The house is HUGE, and the backyard is like seeing the grounds of the Palace of Versailles. It’s a beautiful place that Whyte and Povetkin will be fighting at, and hopefully, their contest is competitive, given the location.
Fans would prefer that Whyte selected someone younger than the 40-year-old Povetkin, but he’s not going to risk his WBC mandatory spot. Whyte is in the position to challenge the winner of the trilogy match between WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder in early 2021. That’s what Whyte, Hearn, and WBC president Mariusz Suliaman are talking about for when the Fury-Whyte fight will take place.
Fury has other ideas, though, saying earlier on Wednesday that Whyte will need to have his fight pushed back due to the pandemic. Fury is talking about Whyte, waiting an entire year before he fights him. That’s not going to work with Whyte, Matchroom, or the WBC.
What we’ll likely see is Whyte upgraded to the full WBC heavyweight champion, and Fury made Franchise champ. That won’t make Whyte happy, but his constant complaining about wanting his title shot will be the initiating factor for this taking place.
Even if Fury is elevated to Franchise champion, he’ll get around to fighting Whyte after he takes care of IBF/WBA/WBO Anthony Joshua in fighting him twice.
Whyte vs. Povetkin was moved from an earlier date
They were previously supposed to fight in May, but the pandemic caused the match to be postponed.
Whyte (27-1, 18 KOs) is the WBC heavyweight mandatory for Tyson Fury, and he’s putting that on the line against the 40-year-old former WBA champion Povetkin (35-2-1, 24 KOs).
Povetkin should be a safe fight for Whyte, given the advanced age of Povetkin, who has lost a couple of gears from his game in the last three years. Povetkin went from looking great in beating Johann Duhaupas in December 2016 to performing in a pedestrian manner ever since.
The drop off was hard to understand. One moment Povetkin was blasting out guys like Duhaupas, Mariusz Wach, Mike Perez, and Carlos Takam, and then he suddenly got old overnight.
It’s pretty clear that Whyte and his promoter Eddie Hearn wouldn’t have chosen Povetkin as an opponent if he was still performing at 100% capacity like he was up to 2016.
These Povetkin’s last four fights since 2017:
- David Price – KO 5 win – but hurt in the fight
- Anthony Joshua – TKO 7 loss
- Hughie Fury – UD 12 win
- Michael Hunter – Draw 12
Povetkin’s performances have deteriorated in his last four fights, and he’s going to need to fight a lot better for him to beat Whyte.
Dillian Whyte will fight Alexander Povetkin on Aug. 22 in the finale of Matchroom Fight Camp, sources tell The Athletic. The heavyweight showdown will be streamed on DAZN and culminates four weeks of fights from Eddie Hearn’s garden.
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) June 24, 2020