Dillian Whyte’s hopes of a world heavyweight title fight suffered a major setback when former Olympic champion Alexander Povetkin twice came back off the canvas to knock out the British fighter. Whyte, 32, had been the WBC’s number-one contender for over two years and was hoping victory behind closed doors on Saturday would pave the way for a world title shot at either defending champion Tyson Fury or Deontay Wilder. Whyte twice put Russian 40-year-old Povetkin down in the fourth round but was then knocked out in fifth by the former WBA world champion. I was confident in the fourth round even after going down twice,” Povetkin told Sky Sports after winning the bout courtesy of a devastating left hook. He wasn’t that much of an outsider – we knew how good Povetkin was.

Source: Punch August 22, 2020 23:26 UTC