Whyte vs Povetkin 2: Is this the end of the line for Dillian?

By Boxing News - 03/07/2021 - Comments

By Charles Brun: Dillian ‘The Body Snatcher’ Whyte is about to get his rematch with Alexander Povetkin after seven months on March 27th. This could be the end of Dillian if he suffers a second devasting knockout loss. The slogan for the Whyte vs. Povetkin rematch is called, ‘The Rumble at The Rock,” which is a so-so name.

For U.S fans, when they hear the words, ‘The Rock,’ many of them think of the former prison on Alcatraz outside of San Francisco, California. Also, the photo of ‘Rumble on the Rock’ looks disturbing, like a pile of you know what. That should have been changed already. It’s hard to believe Matchroom went with this photo to sell the Whyte vs. Povetkin 2 fight.

Whyte is about to discover his destiny on March 27th when he shares the ring with the 2004 Olympic gold medalist Povetkin for the second time.

Many boxing fans feel that Whyte is foolhardy getting back in the ring with Povetkin so soon, Charles Brun included, but this is what he wanted.

Obviously, Whyte has been warned by many people not to take this fight with Povetkin, but this is what he wants. If it blows up in Whyte’s face, he only has himself to blame.

The two will be fighting on the rock of Gibraltar, an odd location to stage the rematch, but oh well, that’s where Eddie Hearn wants it.

Whyte isn’t saying what his plans are if he gets knocked out again, but you have to believe this will be the end of the line for him.

Image: Whyte vs Povetkin 2: Is this the end of the line for Dillian?

Povetkin took advantage of Whyte’s vulnerability in being susceptible to uppercuts. Alexander studied Whyte’s fights and saw what everyone else saw from him all these years, and he took advantage of it by laying him out.

Heck, it was already common knowledge that Whyte was a sucker for an uppercut.

That flaw has been there since he first turned professional in 2011. There’s been absolutely no change in Whyte’s game all these years to fix that flaw, which is why it’s laughable to hear him blabber about how he’s going to fix the small mistake.

I mean, if Whyte were capable of doing that, don’t you think he would have done it already?

Whyte has been flattened by uppercuts by these fighters:

  • Oscar Rivas
  • Joseph Parker
  • Alexander Povetkin
  • Anthony Joshua

Although Dereck Chisora has lost ten times during his long career and yet remains a pay-per-view icon in the UK, he’s never been knocked out twice in a row. Derek’s losses have been well separated years, and that’s helped his British boxing fans overlook his many defeats.

If Whyte gets knocked out a second time by the much older 41-year-old Povetkin, it could cause fans to lose interest in watching him on Sky Box Office PPV.

There’s something about a fighter getting knocked out twice in a row that causes fans to no longer to want to pay to see them on PPV. I doubt that Whyte will retire after losing to Povetkin again, but it could be the end of the line for him as a PPV fighter on Sky.

Whyte says he’s improved on the simple mistake he made against Povetkin, but that’s hard to believe.

The mistake that Dillian made is he leaned forward, which is something he always does when he’s throwing his power shots.

For Whyte to avoid getting hit by Povetkin’s uppercuts in the rematch on March 27th, he would need to totally alter his offense, taking away his body-punching and really his power-punching as well.

Image: Whyte vs Povetkin 2: Is this the end of the line for Dillian?

Whyte is only capable of generating power on his shots when he’s leaning forward. In other words, Whyte can’t pull back and throw power shots with devastating force the way normal heavyweights like Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder, and Andy Ruiz Jr.

So, if Whyte will have any chance of beating Povetkin on the 27th of March, he’s going to need to lean forward when throwing power shots, as he always does, and that’s going to put him at the mercy of the talented Russian’s powerful uppercut.

“We are ready for the fight; we want this fight. … Anything can happen. I reacted normally [to the postponement]. What can you do? We made some changes and go on,” said Povetkin to Sky Sports.

The former WBA heavyweight champion Povetkin (36-2-1, 25 KOs) showed the difference in levels between him and Dillian (27-2, 18 KOs) by knocking the 32-year-old out cold in the fifth round at Eddie Hearn’s childhood mansion in Brentwood, Essex.

Whyte was doing alright through the first four rounds until Povetkin unleashed a brutal left uppercut to knock him clean out in the fifth round.

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Dillian never knew what hit him, as he was unconscious the moment Povetkin’s grenade-like left hand caught him on the chin, putting him over.

It was an identical knockout shot from the one Deontay Wilder landed on Tyson Fury in the 12th round of their first fight, but in this case, the referee did the logical thing and stopped the fight.

Would Whyte have been able to get back up and rally if the referee had given him a count? It’s improbable. Povetkin would have kept hitting Whyte with the same uppercuts, and the fight would have ended straight away.

What Whyte has going for him is the recent illness Povetkin suffered, as he was hospitalized after contracting COVID 19, which wiped out the rematch with Dillian last November.

The Whyte-Povetkin 2 fight was then moved to January, but then it needed to be postponed because Povetkin needed more time.

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What we don’t know is the state of Povetkin’s lungs.  Once again, it was moved to March 6th, and now it’s March 27th. It’ll be interesting to see if the fight happens this time or if it needs yet another postponement, which can only help Povetkin.

The longer the delay, the better it is for Povetkin to regain his conditioning.

Many people who have become ill with COVID require a long time to recover from it, and these aren’t athletes that are expected to compete at a high intensity.

If Povetkin’s stamina isn’t the same as it was in his first fight with Whyte, he could be in trouble quickly if the fight goes past the first two or three rounds. That’s why Whyte needs to try and drag the contest into the later rounds, as Povetkin might gas out and be at the mercy of Dillian’s hooks.

Whyte will be attempting to capture Povetkin’s interim WBC heavyweight title and become mandatory to champion Tyson Fury.

The Whyte vs. Povetkin II clash winner will be in an excellent spot to fight for the world titles against Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury in 2022. There’s a lot of money to be made for the winner of the Whyte vs. Povetkin match.