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Dillian Whyte says the knockout loss to Alexander Povetkin last summer has not left any mental scars and neither is expecting the Russian former WBA champion to be anything but his best when the pair meet again on Saturday.
Whyte faces Povetkin at the Europa Sports Centre just yards from the Mediterranean Sea in Gibraltar on Saturday, the second time the pair have met in an unusual location after their first meeting in Eddie Hearn’s old back garden during Fight Camp last summer, when Povetkin knocked Whyte out with a single left uppercut and took his WBC interim heavyweight title.
The London heavyweight called for an instant rematch, which was originally planned for November until Povetkin fell ill with COVID. But Whyte believes the knockout loss pales into insignificance compared to his struggles in a rough upbringing in Jamaica and south London.
“What I have been through in life, a knockout in a sport where I am changing my future for me and my family, it is nothing,” Whyte said.
“I have many serious things in my life. There have been assassination attempts on my life, I have been through a lot of things, sufferings as a child, and for me this is nothing. It is one night.
“I had an off night. I had two losses in 29 fights, and for me I shouldn’t even be where I am. I had no amateur grounding, no background, no top promoter for long. I have come up swimming against the waves. This is nothing. We readjust, we go again and get the revenge.
“From a child I was forced to be a warrior from an early age. I was forced to struggle, to survive. That is what I know how to do.”
There was never any doubt that Whyte wanted an immediate rematch. He was pushing for it before he even returned to his dressing room after being knocked out in Brentwood last August. He says that desire for revenge did not prevent him taking an adequate break, however, despite going straight back to his Portugal training base.
“You don’t get stopped, and go straight back in, you rest,” he said. “I have a medical team around me and I listened. And they made sure the gym was closed so I couldn’t even get in there. All the guys went home, so no one was here for a couple of weeks, I had nothing better to do, I was bored out of my mind. I had to chill.
“I was ready to go in November, I am not one of those guys that needs time to process things mentally, worry about it and then spend two weeks just thinking about the defeat and then another two weeks getting psychologically ready. I don’t care. We dust up, I lost, we regroup, I go straight back in. That’s what my mindset has always been. Since I was young I was forced to be a worrier from an early age, I was forced to struggle and survive, so that’s all I know how to do.
“My only motivation is winning and revenge. I am relaxed. This is a sport – you win, lose, get knocked out, there are rules. There is a lot of pressure, it is performing, but it is nothing compared to what I have gone through in life.”
Despite Povetkin now being 41 and having suffered COVID, Whyte is not expecting anything but the best from the Russian and does not believe he would have taken the fight if he didn’t think he would win.
“He is a professional, he is a world champion and an Olympic gold medallist,” Whyte said. “He has money, he doesn’t need to fight. If he isn’t fit and he isn’t well, then he wouldn’t take the fight.
“But it is a good excuse to say coronavirus. I gave him enough time to recover. When he said he had Covid I said “ok, no worries” – I wanted to fight the best Povetkin. So he had the time to recover. They planned the date for this date. I said make the date for whenever you are ready and they agreed to that date. His team wouldn’t put him at risk.”
One of the changes for Whyte in this camp is the addition of Harold Knight, as assistant trainer to Xavier Miller. Whyte said he was attracted to Knight because of his years working with Lennox Lewis.
“That is a bit of experience and a bit of wisdom, he was around the best British heavyweight his whole career,” Whyte said. “Him and Xavier complement each other. When Xav comes up with a plan it just strengthens him because this guy was alongside Emanuel Steward with Lennox. It’s about re-enforcing and building confidence.”
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 – covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.