Povetkin vs Whyte 2: Dillian Whyte wants to ‘smash Povetkin’s face’ in rematch

Dillian Whyte is set for an overdue rematch against Alexander Povetkin on March 6, which was originally meant to happen in November, but was postponed until Jan. 30 when Povetkin came down with COVID, and was then postponed again, thought that one would have been delayed anyway as British boxing wound up being shut down for the month of January due to the pandemic.

Whyte has admitted he’s got some real fire toward Povetkin this time around, feeling that Povetkin has disrespected him with some recent comments, and is itching for the rematch to come around:

“I just want to get in there and smash his face in, to be honest. Just get in there, have a fight, let’s go toe to toe and let’s have it. ... I’m just glad that there is nowhere for him to try and hide behind and try and run. He wasted time, letting me get ready for two fights, and then cancelled them at the last minute. ... Of course I’m going to be annoyed. I’m not going to be sat there and laughing. I had a great camp. I’m going to be pissed off and annoyed.”

Whyte (27-2, 18 KO) was seemingly in control against Povetkin (36-2-1, 25 KO) last August, having dropped the Russian veteran twice in the fourth round, before the brutal uppercut in the fifth ended things with Whyte loopy on the canvas.

But the 32-year-old Whyte has wanted the rematch since he got his wits back shortly after, and now it’s coming. At 41, Povetkin will probably be the betting underdog once again, even though he won the first time, and there will certainly be questions about how he’ll physically respond to COVID; we’ve seen some fighters test positive and come back OK, but Povetkin is older than them and the reports weren’t good.

Povetkin-Whyte 2 will stream live on DAZN.