Alexander Povetkin of Russia won the interim world heavyweight championship of the World Boxing Council (WBC), after a sensation knockout of Dillian Whyte.
Whyte had controlled the fight and had Povetkin down twice in the fourth – when Povetkin fired off a single left uppercut to knock Whyte out cold in the fifth round!
Povetkin, 40-years-old, was a big underdog – but entered the fight with a huge edge of experience when it comes to the amateur and pro ranks.
Former cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev was very impressed with Povetkin’s win.
“There can be only one opinion on this fight [between Whyte and Povetkin] – it’s just the beauty of boxing,” Lebedev said to Oleg Bogatov.
“This is what the heavyweight division is famous for. It would seem that everything is already a foregone conclusion, but no, not in this case, not today. Bam and that’s it…. an extravaganza – what a beautiful knockout. Probably, we can say that Alexander’s punch was in the style of a young Mike Tyson. It was a cool punch, everything was done in a textbook manner – a beautiful entrance, kicked off, a punch from a slope to the chin. This is a school boxing of the USSR.”
“The year is not over yet, but I think it will be one of the brightest knockouts [of 2020]. And, of course, it can become the knockout of the year.”
