HAS DILLIAN WHYTE SUFFERED MORE THAN JUST A SHOCK KNOCKOUT?

Now the dust has settled and we’ve had two weeks to reflect, review, commiserate, criticise and analysis Dilian Whyte’s devastating 5th round knockout to Alexander Povetkin. Many are split on whether Whyte can come back from this? But aside from the physical damage of being brutally knocked out, there are much more serious physiological issues Whyte will have to overcome.

Following the earth shattering uppercut Povetkin delivered in the fifth round of their fight at Matchroom’s headquarters in Brentwood. The punch that sent Whyte reeling to the canvas to shatter his long awaiting pursuit of a heavyweight title. You couldn’t help to feel sorry for the man who had been the WBC interim holder since July 2019, but had to take a back seat to the Joshua, Fury and Wilder merry go round.

Whyte had always felt he was the avoided fighter with the big three heavyweights and instead of waiting, or taking step aside money, his pursuit had been relentless. Any time he had the opportunity, he’d make sure to let the big three know he was gunning for them.

Although capable of rubbing some people up the wrong way with his brash, no nonsense, straight talking and unapologetic opinions, this is also what has adhered him to many fight fans. Boxing after all is entertainment and you cannot deny Whyte has entertained with his feuds opposite the likes of Anthony Joshua, Dereck Chisora and even Lucas Browne, with all of those fights delivering in the ring.

Being the interim title holder to Tyson Fury’s WBC  belt. Whyte could have quite easily waited it out until after the Fury v Wilder third fight to take on winner. But Whyte knew boxing is an interactive business and things can change in any given moment, so against what most boxers would choose to do, he opted to take a very risky Povetkin fight.

Although it was an ageing Povetkin, it still was a Povetkin who had only lost to Wladimir Klitschko by unanimous decision in 2013 and was stopped by Joshua in 2018, so he has massive pedigree. Whyte had been controlling the fight, and after knocking Povetkin down twice in the fourth, he looked comfortable until he was devastated in the fifth round.

Due to this, Whyte has announced that he wants an immediate rematch for sometime in November 2020. This might come as a surprise and a bit concerning to many Whyte fans considering how bad he was knocked out and I would concur with that apprehension.

However, if you talked as much trash as Whyte has in the last few years, proclaiming, whenever you had a chance that the best three heavyweights in the world were scared and running from you. Only to get knocked out in such a brutal fashion, especially after waiting so long for your title shot, then being at the brink and getting it snatched away, you would want to get back in there as soon as possible too.

In any sport, you are only as good as your last performance, now if that performance was a bad defeat, you would by dying to get back in there to erase or make up for it. In most sports, thankfully you don’t have to wait a long time before you get a chance to redeem yourself. But with combat sports, the gap is generally large and if your last performance was a devastating knockout, the more time you have to sit and think, the more the doubts and fear creeps in.

Sport in general is about confidence and momentum, the effects of that knockout could be monumental for Whyte, knowing that he was within a grasp of a title shot, only to get it snatched away in such a brutal fashion, must weight heavily on him. Just to think of the arduous journey he has to endure to get back to that stage he was at, is tiring in itself.

So, the idea of wanting a rematch as soon as November is understandable, when you take these things into perspective. However, that drive, that determination that hurt and pain mentally, could mask the physical effects of the knockout, which could have a detrimental effect to him getting back in there so soon.

Now the pressure is really on to win the rematch. Whyte knows if he loses, he risks falling further behind in he heavyweight title picture, especially with the likes of Joy Joyce and Daniel Dubious coming up. The emergence of Usyk, you also have Andy Ruiz Jr, looking to get back a title shot as well as Joseph Parker amongst others.

Back to back defeats could set him back five years and I don’t think Whyte has five years to wait, or could afford to be on the outside of five years, fighting meaningless fights and still be at his supreme best when those five year are up to fight for a title. So the pressure to win this rematch is insurmountable. But even so, if he wins that rematch, would Povetkin push for a rubber match as it would be 1 win each?

There are so many permutations and subplots to that defeat, it’s not just about that one devastating uppercut that shook Whyte to his boots, that was just merely the start. Even if he wins the rematch and goes on, that knockout will forever linger for the rest of his career and give opponents as much hope as it would give him doubts.

Sadly, he will not get any credit or reward for risking it all to do what he does best and fight. But it will further encourage fighters to sit on their hands, turning down fights and prepared to wait it out for their shot. Some will even look at Whyte’s situation as a justification.

All in all, the ramifications to that uppercut from Povetkin goes further than just an embarrassing and devastating fifth round defeat.  The unforeseen, physiological effects are much longer lasting and deep rooted than the physical. After being in such a position of power, his career is now under serious pressure of being anti-climatic and labelled as just another good domestic, but failed world level prospect.

Dillian Whyte is at a serious crossroads moment, where every decision is vital and he now cannot afford to make any wrong moves. But at the end of the day, that is the nature of the sport where one punch can literally change everything.