DILLIAN WHYTE’S mind is a bigger concern than his chin heading into the must-win Alexander Povetkin rematch.
The 32-year-old Brixton ace was cruising to the latest victory of his career against the Russian on August 22 – after scoring two early knockdowns – before a hellish uppercut stunned the Brit in the fifth.
The fearless fans’ favourite has launched himself into an instant November 21 rematch, in a bid to reclaim his WBC mandatory position.
And promoter Eddie Hearn is more concerned with his charge’s confidence than his punch resistance.
The Matchroom boss told SunSport: “There are two ways to look at it; Dillian controlled the fight and was moments from winning until a one-in-a-million punch stunned him and the chances of that happening again in the rematch are very small.
“Or you can say that Povetkin took two of Dillian’s best shots, got off the floor twice and stopped him with the only real punch he connected with.
“It wasn’t a 12-round war or a prolonged beating so physically Dillian should be fine but the rematch is more about the psychological side.
“Dillian demanded the rematch straight away, no hesitation, because he believes it was just a split second mistake that he can correct.
“But Povetkin also snapped up the rematch because he now thinks he has the beating of Dillian and can pop back over to double his money with another easy night’s work.
“A knockout like that you can physically recover from reasonably quickly. But mentally it can leave a mark on fighters and we will find out on November 21.”
After a six-week break from boxing, Hearn returns this Sunday with a card headlined by light-heavyweight ace Joshua Buatsi.
The 27-year-old, like almost every fighter on the circuit, has had to take a paycut to kickstart his career again and Hearn admits this period has been his biggest challenge in the sport.
He said: “A fighter’s earnings are made up of around 40 per cent of their ticket sales, that is gone for now.
“Where do we find that huge chunk of money? You can’t just get more broadcasting or sponsors because those businesses – like everyone – have bigger priorities right now than sponsoring boxing shows, we have to be realistic.
“We pulled off our Fight Camp shows with great success, outdoor shows in the summer went down a storm. But now we have a very different challenge, probably our biggest one yet and we have to produce the goods again.”
Hearn also believes the coronavirus fall-out might play a part in Anthony Joshua dropping one of his world titles.
At the start of lockdown, Hearn announced he had agreed the financial terms on a two-fight deal between AJ and Tyson Fury.
But now mandatory challenges are mounting up and that potential undisputed decider feels like it is slipping away again.
Hearn said: “AJ has always had one mission and that is to have all four major belts, be undisputed champion, and he only needs the WBC title now to do that.
“But he also wants the biggest fights in the world and, in these uncertain times, if he has to drop one belt to make the Fury fight happen then I think he will consider that now.
“A few months ago I would never have said AJ would even consider relinquishing a title.
“But AJ vs Fury is the biggest fight in boxing, he really wants that fight, and he will go to great lengths to make it happen, if he has to.”
Eddie spoke to SunSport for the launch of 2K Games’ new Mafia: Definitive Edition, available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store. For more information head to: mafiagame.com/buy
