DILLIAN WHYTE will unleash the dogs of war on Alexander Povetkin tonight before enjoying his retirement with a lapdog called Furball.
The 18st Brixton powerhouse adores his three giant muscle dogs Zeus, Hades and Titan that he trained in tracking and defence while in a 22-week training camp in Portugal.
The 32-year-old had to leave them behind to come to Eddie Hearn’s Essex garden but has been getting the kennel boss to send him daily photos and videos.
And he hopes once his career of ‘Maximum Violence’ is over he can chill out with a more cuddly canine.
Whyte told SunSport: “Maybe when I retire and become a lot more civilised I will get a little dog called Furball.
“The kids might be able to convince me to get a chihuahua or a shih tzu but for now I like a dog that can protect his family as well as being a gentle pet.
“I am missing them a lot and I have had the lady who is looking after them in Portugal for me sending me photos and videos of them every day.
“My dogs have been with me through hell and high water, they were with me during all my camps in Loughborough when I was just living in a hotel room on my own
“Through every tough time I have been through, my dogs have given me a lot of support and normality.
“Training camps have to be lonely and painful and having the dogs with me helped so much.”
Povetkin has wins over Brits David Price and Hughie Fury on his record, as well as a defeat to Anthony Joshua.
He is also good pals with Londoner Derek Chisora and recently had Greenwich’s Daniel Dubois out to Russia for sparring.
The Soviet slugger insists he is friends with all of his UK former foes but Whyte never got the invite.
“He has sparred with a lot of English guys before, taken them out to Russia, but I never got the invite,” Whyte said.
“I would have loved to have gone, of course, I would have gone because I was always desperate to learn more and improve my trade.
“But then I tried to fight Povetikin two years ago after he beat David Price.
“Me and David sparred a lot when I first turned pro and I like to protect and defend my people so I knew then that I wanted to destroy this guy.”
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Whyte weighed a career-heaviest 19st 5lbs when he last boxed in Saudi Arabia in December but he had been comfort eating to cope with a UK anti-doping case he went on to win.
When he stripped of his garish tracksuit – specially made to mock Team Povetkin’s fashion sense – he looked in rude health and scaled 18st after a serious diet.
But he held back celebrating the news that promoter Eddie Hearn had received an overnight email from the WBC, guaranteeing Saturday’s winner a crack at the title Tyson Fury currently owns.
He said: “Right now, I don’t care. I have heard it a lot of times before.
“Right now I just have a hard fight against Povetkin and I am ready to rock.
“I don’t care what happens after or what has been promised. I don’t care.
“Now I just want to fight. I am ready for chaos, violence and destruction now.
“Everything has been cool all week with Povetkin, we have done what we have to do. In all of our meetings I have been civilised but I know what he and his team think of me.
“I know they think they can beat me so it’s just war and destruction now.”
POVETKIN DETERMINED
And if the going gets tough he can use some of his newfound Portuguese language skills to get inside the 2004 Olympic champ’s head.
“I spent 22 weeks in Portugal, it is a great place,” he said.
“But the only parts of the language I picked up are the naughty words.”
Povetkin, who checked in at 16st exactly, came close to stunning Joshua at Wembley in 2018 with an early KO, before being stopped in the seventh.
And he has vowed to not let his beat Britain’s third biggest banger slip through his hands.
The 40-year-old said: “I definitely had good moments in the early rounds against Joshua but there is no point dwelling on that fight.
“I needed to do it in the ring there and then and I didn’t, so I moved on.
“Right now it is hard to split Fury and Joshua, they share No1 place for UK heavyweights with Dillian in third.”
