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Heavyweight contender Dillian Whyte (27-2, 18 KOs) was more than five pounds lighter for Saturday night’s rematch with Alexander Povetkin in Gibraltor.
Povetkin was a little more than four pounds heavier.
Last August, Povetkin pulled off a sensational one-punch knockout of Whyte at Matchroom’s Fight Camp in Brentwood.
The Russian fighter had been down twice in the fourth round and appeared to be on the verge of being stopped, but he came out in the fifth with an accurate uppercut that sent Whyte down and out.
The unexpected loss snatched away Whyte’s status as the mandatory challenger to the WBC world title.
Their rematch will once again have the WBC’s interim world title at stake. A victory will send the winner a few steps close to a mandatory world title shot.
Whyte is looking to win in the most impressive way possible – by scoring a knockout victory by way of a knockout. He doesn’t want the fight to go the distance.
“I’ve come in half-a-stone lighter. It wasn’t deliberate. Just small adjustments. I expect a tough twelve round fight,” Whyte said.
“Every time I step into the ring I give my all. This is nothing different. You can create pressure in yourself if you start listening to people.
“I will stop him. Don’t expect me to come out and be wild because there are ways of doing things; fight him, be physical, box him. But I am looking for the stoppage. We have different ways of pressing him. Standing in front, but not being in front of him, using angles and my legs.”