Saturday’s rematch between Alexander Povetkin and Dillian Whyte is a pretty highly-anticipated bout, having first been scheduled for November, then January, and then early March, before finally settling for March 27 in Gibraltar, where it will stream live on DAZN and air on Sky Box Office in the UK.
Povetkin (36-2-1, 25 KO) pulled a stunner last August, not just because he upset Whyte (27-2, 18 KO), but because he did so by coming off the canvas twice in round four to brutally KO Whyte in round five.
American heavyweight Michael Hunter, who is currently expected to face Filip Hrgovic in an IBF eliminator at some point, has faced Povetkin before, and he thinks we might see a repeat performance on Saturday:
“Povetkin always gets to his man at some point and Dillian Whyte always gets hit at some point in all of his fights, so I think it’s going to be a very similar outcome. It could go either way, but I just think the experience [of Povetkin] is going to outweigh Whyte’s youth and skills. … I think the same thing could happen. He could get knocked out.”
Povetkin is 41 and had a bout with COVID that reportedly wasn’t of the “mild” variety since the first fight, but that power figures to still be there, and Hunter’s right that Whyte isn’t exactly a defensive wizard or anything. He gets hit, which is part of what makes him routinely fun to watch.
As for the Hrgovic fight, Hunter (19-1-1, 13 KO) tells Sky Sports that the Hrgovic side “haven’t reached out,” which may be because the Hrgovic side would rather just send it to purse bid. Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn said in early February that they were negotiating a fight between Hrgovic (12-0, 10 KO) and Martin Bakole when the IBF order came in, and that he did send Hunter an offer and didn’t hear back.
