By Charles Brun: Dillian Whyte says that he’ll be making an announcement officially tomorrow for his rematch with Alexander Povetkin. Although Whyte (27-2, 18 KOs) didn’t give a date, Matchroom Boxing boss Eddie Hearn said it’ll happen in November on either 14th or 21st in London, England.
If Povetkin wins the rematch with Whyte, it’ll make him the WBC mandatory to champion Tyson Fury. That’s a position Whyte had before Povetkin starched him with a left uppercut last August.
Povetkin can earn WBC mandatory position
The only reason Povetkin hasn’t taken the WBC mandatory spot is that he’s stuck giving Whyte a second fight due to the rematch clause that was in the contract from the first fight.
It’s not all bad for Povetkin to have to fight Dillian again. He’s expected to get a better deal financially this time around compared to the first, and he’ll be able to increase interest in a match between him and Fury by beating Whyte again.
Proving the first victory wasn’t a fluke is essential for the 2004 Olympic gold medalist Povetkin, as a lot of boxing fans believe he got lucky in blasting out Whyte.
fight news drops tomorrow walking straight back into the fire I want all the smoke let’s go baby @eddiehearn @matchroomboxing @skysportsboxing #WHYTEVPOVETKIN2 #ANYONECANGETIT #TBS #MAXIMUMVIOLENCE pic.twitter.com/429hzSeqw3
— Dillian Whyte (@DillianWhyte) September 14, 2020
The money that Povetkin will get in fighting Fury will be huge, and it’s coming at the right time in his career. If Povetkin only has a handful of years left before retirement, the payday he’ll get fighting Fury would help ease his golden years.
Whyte is excited to avenge his 5th round knockout loss to the former WBA heavyweight champion Povetkin (36-2-1, 25 KOs) from last month on August 22.
Sadly, Dillian is still attributing his loss to the 40-year-old Povetkin to him making a “mistake” rather than the Russian just being too talented for him.
Hearn hasn’t said anything about him attempting to talk the 32-year-old Whyte out of making this hasty move in facing Povetkin again. Like Dillian, Hearn views his loss to Povetkin as a simple mistake as well, and he’s not going to try and dissuade him from taking this risk.
Is Dillian coming back too soon?
Conventional wisdom says that it’s a mistake for any fighter to return quickly to the ring after they’ve experienced a horrible knockout loss in which they lose consciousness. As fans are already aware, Whyte was knocked full unconscious in his defeat to Povetkin on August 22. With that kind of KO loss, it would be wise for Dillian to give himself six to eight months of rest to recover from it.
Whyte isn’t interested in taking a break, and he’s ready to jump back into the ring and face Povetkin just THREE months after his recent knockout. Essentially, Dillian is gambling that what he just went through physically won’t have any adverse effect on him neurologically.
In other words, Whyte is betting that his brain will be able to take the massive shots that Povetkin will be hitting him with just three months after his last knockout. Is that a smart thing for Whyte to do?
Probably not, but he’s willing to gamble with his career, and Hearn isn’t going to stand in his path to keep him from taking this venture.
If Whyte is once again knocked out cold by Povetkin, then it’s going to be tough, if not impossible, for him to rebuild. 32 is a ripe age for a fighter to be trying to come back from consecutive knockout losses.
The one thing that Whyte would have going for him is his vast support from his UK boxing fans.
They won’t turn their backs on Whyte and will likely continue to faithfully purchase his headliner fights on Sky Box Office pay-per-view as they’ve done before.
Will another loss for Dillian finish him as a PPV draw?
Hearn said that Whyte wouldn’t be able to continue to be a PPV fighter if he keeps losing, and perhaps he’s right. But the fans will be willing to digest losses here and there from Whyte, and not give up on him the way fans from other countries would.
At a certain point, the public could lose interest in paying to watch Whyte’s fights on Sky Box Office if he keeps losing. You can expect Dillian to get diminishing returns if he’s knocked out once again.
In some ways, that might be a good thing for the British public because they won’t have to pay to watch Dillian fight once he’s reassigned to regular Sky and not PPV.
Whyte has had a good thing going in selling his non-title fights on pay-per-view, but all good things must come to an end. Will Povetkin officially finish Whyte as a PPV fighter in November? Only time will tell.
Despite Whyte never having captured a world title or even fought for one, he’s headlined numerous pay-per-view events in the UK. That’s something that you don’t see that often. Whyte has become famous for briefly giving Anthony Joshua a tough time in round two of their match in 2015.