In his first fight with Alexander Povetkin, Dillian Whyte failed to finish off his opponent despite multiple hits in the fourth round. In Saturday night ‘s replay in Gibraltar, Whyte again injured Povetkin in the fourth round, but this time he closed the show with a stunning blow to regain the WBC heavyweight interim.
When the two met in 2020, Povetkin rose from two fourth-round hits to score an impressive upset in the fifth. Whyte was sharper in the replay, working on a strong injection that Povetkin could not avoid from the opening bell. Those jabs opened heavy right hands from Whyte who had Povetkin regularly protected.
Povetkin, who fought COVID-19 late in the year, spent much of the fighting non-stop on his feet, apparently having a problem with his footwork throughout the fight and was injured. throw again and again.
Whyte landed with hard power blows in all rounds, but in Round 3, he appeared close to taking out Povetkin while several preseason rights landed. . Povetkin apparently had not recovered well between rounds and watched him go down across the globe before his right hand stretched him back into the ropes.
Whyte poured on the weight until Povetkin fell to the canvas. He rose to beat the 10 count, but was on unsteady legs, forcing the referee to stop the fight as Povetkin’s corner threw the toe at mark 2: 39 of Visit 4.
“I’m ready to run again if he wants it again,” Whyte said after the fight. “If he wants a replacement, if he has the right money, I’ll run it again. I shouldn’t have lost the first time. I’m just tempted. First once I should not be lost. “
Asked who he wanted to fight next, Whyte asked his promoter Eddie Hearn to give him an easy fight to make good money. Hearn did not appear to be opposed to a quick turnaround, but said the final goals included a big fight with world-winner Deontay Wilder, and a world championship at the eventually.
“For me, we called Deontay Wilder a fight for a long, long time,” Hearn said. “He actually did DMed and said I will never give you that fight. Now he wants that fight. To me, that’s a stadium fight. I would love to bring it back soon in the summer. But the goal has always been to get a world title for Dillian Whyte. “
Before losing KO to Povetkin in the first fight, Whyte had been a mandatory WBC opponent for more than 1,000 days. Now, again with the interim tree, he is able to get the opportunity he has been waiting for.
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Fighting card, results
- Dillian Whyte (c) def. Alexander Povetkin through TKO in the fourth round
- Fabio Wardley def. Eric Molina through the fifth round hit
- Ted Cheeseman def. James Metcalf through an 11-round strike
- Nick Webb def. Erik Pfeifer through TKO in the second round
- Campbell Hatton def. Jesus Ruiz by unanimous decision (40-36, 40-36, 40-36)
- Michael McKinson def. Chris Kongo by unanimous decision (95-94, 96-94, 97-93)
Povetkin vs Whyte scorecard, live broadcast
|
Povetkin |
9 |
9 |
9 |
27 |
|||||||||
|
Whyte |
10 |
10 |
10 |
TKO |
30 |