Silly move sacking Tibbs. Cowardly move doing it via lawyer. Tibbs even saying in his IFL interview that he put up with a lot of stuff many wouldn't have and was still willing to put the work in to train Whyte. Even saying that he'd go along to watch the Povetkin fight if he can. Like Dillian but don't think this was a good idea.
That will have likely been done on the advice of lawyers, which suggests there's fear of a claim from Tibbs for monies owed, perhaps a percentage of the Povetkin fight purse? The spreadsheet thing may have also been related, perhaps a prelude to seeking a renegotiation of terms? Maybe lockdown has concentrated minds on how long DW has left as a big earner and there was a move to cut costs? We will likely never know however and regardless it's not a good look as others have said.
Mark Tibbs also said that they asked him to come in for the last 3 weeks of camp, no trainer is going to agree to that surely. Maybe they knew he would refuse to do that or maybe an attempt to cut some costs. Still a right and wrong way to go about things and this seems like the latter.
He has to beat povetkin and beat him well. If he doesn't, or if he labours to a dodgy point decision, this is going to look like a massive own goal.
I always think it's sad when a once great fighter gets beaten up by someone they would never have lost to in their prime, but I fear that's what will happen here with Povetkin eventually tiring after some good moments and Dillian taking him out late. Rooting for Pov though.
Was he ever really that good? To me he was a distant 2nd or 3rd in a shockingly bad division. Wonder how he would get on if he was 10 years younger.
Depends how you define great I suppose, but in my opinion, he was great. 2nd to an all time great in Wlad during his prime. Not too shabby.
Who is training Whyte now ? It definitely appears to be a cost-cutting thing. With no live gate money, Whyte wants to get by on the cheap. That's my guess anyway.
Not a ‘great’ in historic terms but still an Olympic gold medalist With 5 successful WBA championship fights before losing his title to an ATG in Klitschko. I’d take that as a very successful career in boxing. Prime for prime he’s levels above Whyte. He is training with a Don Charles protege - Xavier Miller of IQ Boxing
Agree with you but ultimately he's been no more successful as a heavyweight, and certainly career wise, as David Haye, who gets lambasted on here. It was a weak era in which he didn't stand out any more than David Haye did. A better fighter than Whyte though, prime for prime, for sure. Plus perhaps Wlad's dominance made the division look weaker than it was. Will this era be considered weak once Fury runs rings around AJ?
Povetkin is a good heavyweight, but was very good in his pomp. Same issue Haye had, just not big enough for an elite huge heavyweight. Thinking about it 10 years ago Haye v Povetkin would have been some fight.
My mate is coached by Xavier Miller. Said he might be going out to Portugal next week to spar. He rates him highly.