Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I’M READY FOR A BOXING MATCH... OR A WAR!
Life on the road has focused Whyte and he’s fighting fit and determined to step up and claim a world title shot
AS boxing locations go, staying in a motorhome by the side of the M25 while preparing to fight in your promoter’s back garden could hardly be more bizarre.
But Dillian Whyte could not be more motivated to face Russian Alexander Povetkin behind closed doors tonight in the final week of Matchroom’s Fight Camp.
The WBC have promised Whyte a shot at the winner of
Tyson Fury’s trilogy fight with Deontay
Wilder if he wins and he feels his career is back on track after the most difficult year of his life.
Whyte fell into depression when he failed a drugs test last summer and spent five months fearing for his world title dream before being cleared.
Now the WBC’S interim champion, who has been their
No.1 contender for nearly three years, feels his title shot is finally within reach.
The 32-year-old said: “It’s all good here. They call me the Black Traveller because I’m staying in a motorhome!
“I haven’t got any motivational issues. The whole of last year for me was a write-off. I had a lot of issues going on and different things on my mind, I was fighting for my career.
“My status as a fighter, my credibility as a person, was a shambles, but now I am in a good place again.
“I’m back where I should be and I want to shine against a good fighter.”
Whyte claims spending lockdown training in Portugal helped him turn his life around as he shifted the blubber he had put on while depressed.
He drove to Portugal with his three dogs, stopping every two hours on the 40-hour journey to let them exercise, because he did not want to transport his beloved pets by air.
“Portugal was good for me,” he said. “I was able to train and able to shift some unwanted weight, which I had gained last year because my career and life were in tatters. It was just good to get away and train and focus. It was what I needed, to be honest.”
Anthony Joshua, who will be analysing the fight on Sky Sports Box Office, does not think Whyte can emulate him by knocking out Povetkin, who he stopped in seven rounds in 2018.
“It will go to a points decision,” said the WBA Super, IBF and WBO heavyweight king. “Povetkin is a seriously skilled heavyweight.”
But that hasn’t stopped bookies making Whyte the strong favourite at 1-4, with Povetkin available at 3-1. And it’s 10-11 for the fight to go the distance.
Whyte says he is ready for anything Povetkin brings.
“He’s a very aggressive fighter, he knows how to fight,” said the Brixton Body Snatcher. “He might try to go early, let’s see what happens. I’m prepared for whatever he does, whether it’s a 12-round war or a boxing fight.”