Povetkin Withdraws From Whyte Fight Due To COVID
Big time rematch to close out the year is off the board, as Alexander Povetkin has been forced to withdraw from his Saturday, November 21 contest with Dillian Whyte due to testing positive for COVID-19.
Details on the status of Povetkin will be announced as they are disclosed.
The pair were due to rematch at The SSE Arena, Wembley, live on Sky Sports Box Office but will now face each other on a later date to be announced down the line. In a tweet today, Matchroom Boxing has the card with a new target date of January 30, 2021.
UPDATE ℹ️ Alexander Povetkin has tested positive for COVID-19… #PovetkinWhyte2 is postponed with a new target date of Jan 30 2021.
A further announcement on our Nov 21 show will be made shortly. pic.twitter.com/I8ghShA8ei
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) November 3, 2020
“Firstly we want to wish Alexander Povetkin a speedy recovery,” said promoter Eddie Hearn in a press release. “This is a challenging time for shows. There will be lots of ups and downs over the next few months. We look forward to the fight happening in late January.”
This fight was one of the pay-per-views on Sky Sports in the UK, and on the streaming service, DAZN was a quick turnaround of the fight that saw Whyte knocked out by Povetkin in the fifth round back in August.
Whyte’s loss removed him from his longstanding position as the #1 mandatory challenger in the World Boxing Council Rankings. He held for about as long as Americans were using AOL as their internet provider.
While this fight’s deployment is unfortunate as Povetkin has contacted COVID, it can’t be seen but anything but beneficial for Whyte as the fifth-round knockout was one that I ranked as the Knockout of the Year on the latest edition of The Big Fight Weekend Podcast. Check that out below as we recap the slate of fights from the past weekend and more!
We’ll have more details as more comes out, but the current landscape in the United Kingdom with COVID cases could push that date from January back even further.
Marquis Johns is a unknown humorist and avid boxing fan. His love for the sweet science goes back to when matches were 15 rounds and has been covering fights since closed-circuit pay-per-views. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth is not only a quote by Mike Tyson, it's also a pretty good reminder to keep your guard up.
