Povetkin has mastered the art of adding longevity to his career. Old school fighters like him know how to maximise everything.
Whyte has got himself into an AJ - Ruiz type situation. Just like AJ he's picked a risky fight that he didn't need to take, a stylistic nightmare and miss judgement. He's found out that if he trades with this guy he's very vulnerable to what just happened because he doesn't have the strongest chin and he's too easy to hit. Just like AJ did to ruiz, could outbox him at range, had the power to put him down but once they trade pov was technically superior. Whyte likes to trade hit and get hit but its very dangerous against Povetkin because he punches so clean and is probably the best inside fighter in the division. So now whyte has to go into a 2nd fight with his career on the line, has to be ultra cautious behind a jab and try to do what AJ did against ruiz and get the points win. He has to resist the urge to trade in close. He can win a rematch and he can knock pov out but unfortunately he's got himself into this situation with his career on the line. Very bad choice of opponent, you wouldnt see fury making that mistake, he chose schwarz and wallin. He might have got slated for that but ultimately now he's the WBC champion and whyte is nowhere despite whyte having taking far more risks.
Before the fight I said Povetkin has a chance to win despite his age, A moment of carelessness cost Whyte, Povetkin looked great even though he was knocked down twice it didn’t shake him, the rematch will be 50-50 and it’s hard to predict the winner.
The embarrassing thing for Whyte is not being KTFO by Povetkin. It’s being knocked out by a totally shot shell of Povetkin who had no co-ordination, no balance, no punch resistance and was falling over his own feet.
I haven't seen the whole fight, only the KO, so my opinion might change on this at a later date. But to me it looked like Povetkin simply exploited one of the numerous sloppy flaws Whyte demonstrates on a pretty consistent basis. Rivas did a similar thing when he knocked Whyte down, but couldn't exploit the angles like Povetkin could. Unless Whyte drastically tightens up his style (which won't happen overnight) he'll always be vulnerable to Povetkin's superior ringcraft. And given his weakness against uppercuts it's a fight that Povetkin is going to go into with a lot of confidence. Basically Whyte's only real hope is that Povetkin ages even worse in the interim and Whyte is able to club him down early and get a quick stoppage.
Whyte should win but I've said before for all the improvements Whyte has made he does still get hit a bit too much. It's why I think an AJ rematch would end the same way as Whyte would get hurt by AJ
