Dillian Whyte would love to challenge Tyson Fury for the WBC heavyweight title in London.
With Fury contractually committed to a third bout with former champion Deontay Wilder, however, Whyte has taken yet another difficult fight while waiting for his long-overdue title shot. Assuming his May 2 fight against Alexander Povetkin happens as scheduled, Whyte will have fought Joseph Parker, Dereck Chisora, Oscar Rivas and Povetkin all after moving into the number one position in the WBC’s heavyweight rankings.
The WBC has publicly committed to Whyte (27-1, 18 KOs) receiving his long-overdue title shot by February 2021, but the Jamaican-born Brit won’t allow himself to think about facing the Wilder-Fury winner until he overcomes Povetkin (35-2-1, 24 KOs) in a 12-round fight for the WBC’s interim heavyweight title.
Russia’s Povetkin is 40, but he fought to a 12-round split draw with American Michael Hunter (18-1-1, 12 KOs) in his last fight, December 7 in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. In his previous appearance, the former WBA champion convincingly beat England’s Hughie Fury (23-3, 13 KOs) by unanimous decision in another 12-rounder.
Povetkin has lost only to Wladimir Klitschko, by 12-round unanimous decision in October 2013, and Anthony Joshua, by seventh-round technical knockout in September 2018.
“You know, with me I go one fight at a time,” Whyte said during a press conference Wednesday in Manchester, England. “I know all this stuff is floating around the background about Povetkin’s a dangerous guy. You can never afford to overlook him. I’m not thinking about Tyson Fury, what’s happening with him. I’m just thinking about Alexander Povetkin, you know, because he’s dangerous and he’s gonna wanna come and fight and leave it all on the line. That’s just in his DNA.
“It’s one thing me and him’s very similar in. When I look at him, I say, ‘We’re very similar in that mindset of we’ll come and we’ll give it [our] all, man.’ So, I’m just focused on him. I don’t care about [fighting for the title]. We’ll see what happens in May first. We’ll have a chat about Tyson Fury and that, but for now, I’ll put it on the backburner and just focus on Alexander Povetkin for the next eight weeks.”
Whyte-Povetkin will headline a Sky Sports Box Office pay-per-view show from Manchester Arena. The 31-year-old Whyte has won 11 straight fights since Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) handed him his lone loss, a seventh-round TKO in December 2015.
England’s Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) is likely to battle Alabama’s Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) a third time July 18 in Las Vegas. Fury floored Wilder twice and stopped him in the seventh round of their rematch to win the WBC championship February 22 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.