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Tony Bellew wasn’t trying to downplay Alexander Povetkin’s incredible comeback against Dillian Whyte.
But based on what the Sky Sports boxing analyst witnessed August 22, Bellew doesn’t consider Povetkin capable of beating Whyte again Saturday night at the Europa Point Sports Complex in Gibraltar. The ex-WBC cruiserweight champion and retired heavyweight contender chose Whyte to win their immediate rematch by knockout in an interview with IFL TV.
“I think Dillian will go out there [on Saturday] and prove everybody wrong and just, you know, get the win,” Bellew said. “He will beat Povetkin, and I think he will stop him.”
Sky Sports Box Office will televise the Povetkin-Whyte rematch as the main event of a pay-per-view show in the United Kingdom (£19.95; 6 p.m. GMT). DAZN will stream it in the United States (3 p.m. ET; noon PT) and approximately 200 additional countries.
London’s Whyte, 32, and Russia’s Povetkin, 41, will fight for the WBC interim heavyweight title Povetkin won from Whyte seven months ago. Oddsmakers have established Whyte (27-2, 18 KOs) as a 3-1 favorite to top Povetkin (36-2-1, 25 KOs) in their second fight.
Whyte will attempt to avenge a brutal knockout defeat in a fight he was winning easily before Povetkin’s vicious left uppercut knocked him unconscious in the fifth round.
Whyte knocked Povetkin to the canvas twice in the fourth round and appeared well on his way toward a knockout victory. Povetkin recovered between the fourth and fifth rounds, however, and unloaded that unforgettable uppercut early in the fifth round.
Povetkin’s pulverizing punch left Whyte flat on his back, beneath a bottom rope, to suddenly end a main event at Matchroom Boxing’s headquarters in Brentwood, England.
“I think [Whyte] will pick up where he left off in the first fight,” Bellew said. “He was doing so, so well until that one single lapse of concentration. [He was] one punch away from winning. I’m not saying it’s a lucky punch thrown by Povetkin. But what I am saying is it’s a once-in-a-career, lifetime punch. You don’t go down twice in a fight, be out on your feet, and then throw a punch literally that’s came from the middle of nowhere and to put your opponent out.
“That very rarely happens. That happens once a career. It’s very rare that you can name me a fighter who’s done it on multiple occasions. I can’t think of many others – other than someone like Nigel Benn, perhaps Julian Jackson, two fighters out of how many hundreds of thousands? They’re the only two fighters I can think of who’ve done it more than twice.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.