The rematch between Dillian Whyte and Alexander Povetkin was postponed when Povetkin tested positive for Covid-19 and when the United Kingdom saw a spike in Covid cases, promoter Eddie Hearn could not take another chance on a delay, so he had to fight somewhere to place his event.
I've never heard of a mainstream fight from Gibraltar, the less than three square mile nation that is usually known as "The Rock" of Gibraltar, but there is a first time for everything in boxing and when the nation of less than forty thousand offered their site for the rematch, it didn't take Eddie Hearn long to accept.
The rematch from their August fight in which Whyte knocked Povetkin down twice in the fourth round, saw Povetkin barely survive to return to his corner and with Whyte moving in for the kill in the fifth, seeming to rock Povetkin, Povetkin uncorked a left uppercut that dropped Whyte on his back for a one-punch knockout.
The knockout cost Whyte his long-awaited mandatory challenge of WBC champion Tyson Fury and placed him behind other heavyweights, even with a rematch win today which has the WBC minor belt on the table that Povetkin took from Whyte.
The biggest unknown about this fight is how much has the knockout affected Dillian Whyte's ability to take a shot and can Alexander Povetkin, who only loses to the elite of the division ( at age 41, Povetkin's only two losses are to Wladimir Klitschko and Anthony Joshua) manage to either land that perfect punch again or fight better than he did in his first go at Whyte?
Whyte was also spectacularly knocked out in his other career defeat by Anthony Joshua and it's not unreasonable to wonder how much his resistance has been sapped by another huge knockout.
Still, Whyte is closer to his prime than Povetkin is his, and as the first fight showed, Whyte is able to outbox the aging Russian and throw (And land) many more punches as well.
Povetkin still has the equalizer though and he's hurt every fighter that he has faced- including Klitschko and Joshua, so if Whyte has been affected by the knockout, Povetkin is very capable of repeating his triumph.
I'm very intrigued by the fight as I can see Whyte dominating, avoiding the big mistake, and taking an easy win, but I cannot rule out the possibility of Povetkin knocking out a damaged Whyte with one of his thunderous bombs.
In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 34-31.
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