Whyte – Povetkin Heavyweight showdown rescheduled

On the heels of the British Boxing Board of Control announcing Monday that there will be no sanctioned live fights in the U.K. through the month of May, Matchroom Boxing has moved quickly to reschedule shows, including the heavyweight showdown between English Contender, Dillian Whyte and former IBF Wold Champ, Russian Alexander Povetkin.

Promoter Eddie Hearn released a statement mid-day London time Monday, saying that in compliance with the BBBOC announcement, Whyte-Povetkin will be moved from May 2nd to July 4h in the same Manchester Arena:

ℹ️ Schedule Update#WhytePovetkin #SelbyKambososJr #UsykChisora pic.twitter.com/hU2iwXeMfD

— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) March 30, 2020

The statement reads in part,

“Subject to the developing situation, Whyte’s Interim WBC Heavyweight World Title clash with Povetkin has been rescheduled to Saturday July 4th….

The health and safety of the boxers, staff, event contractors and fans involved with our events remains the top priority for Matchroom Boxing and we thank everyone for their understanding. We look forward to bringing world class boxing events back to these shores as soon as it is safe to do so.”

The Whyte and Povetkin 12 round bout was to be the first of two heavyweight showdowns in the U.K. setting up potential title shots for the winners. The other fight features unbeaten former Undisputed Cruiserweight Champion Oleksandr Usyk against English big punching Dereck Chisora.

As Matchroom said Monday, that fight for May 23rd in London will also have be moved on the calendar but it’s unclear, as to when and if it will keep the same venue of the O2 Arena.

Hear a round-table discussion of the postponements of Whyte-Povetkin and Usyk-Chisora from our Big Fight Weekend Podcast by clicking below:

We wrote last week about Chisora having a video chat that he posted on social media with Whyte, where they’re describing their situations of being in limbo for their training/fights. Whyte said in the video that he had driven to Portugal to continue his training camp for the Povetkin fight.

Further off in the distance, is the scheduled June 20th Unified Heavyweight title fight between Champion Anthony Joshua and IBF, number one contender, Kubrat Pulev.

Pulev said two weeks ago that he thinks the fight will have to be postponed, but there is still been nothing official from Joshua’s camp or Matchroom Boxing. However, with Monday’s rescheduling due to Coronavirus it seems a matter of when, no if, that showdown gets moved, as well.