Povetkin's KO win over Whyte is one of the greatest single wins in boxing history

It's not the fact that Povetkin beat Whyte, but due to the context under which he won. For:

1) He was 40+ years of age.

2) He has a young man's style, which is not suitable for a 40 year old due to it being very taxing and demanding in terms of energy and durability.

3) He has been participating in combat sports for over 2 decades and therefore has extremely high mileage.

4) Knocked out a top 5 current heavyweight.

5) Knocked out Whyte in his own country with everything stacked against him.

Now find me one other past heavyweight, who has a win similar to the one Povektin has over Whyte, under such contexts. You won't be able to...

Beating Whyte, in and of itself is nothing all that special or ground-breaking, since Whyte is nothing really special to begin with himself. So somebody beating Whyte in their primes or at a young age is not very impressive.

However, to do it under the context Povetkin did it, when everything was stacked against him, due to age, mileage, style not suitable for an old age, and doing it in his opponent' backyard is what makes this arguably the greatest and most impressive win one can have.

Most other past heavyweights that are classified as 'greats', could not even come close to achieving or doing what Povetkin did against a top 5 heavyweight, with even half the disadvantages stacked against Povetkin, much less all of them.

An old Mike Tyson could not even beat Danny Williams or Kevin McBride, despite being younger than Povetkin and despite Danny Williams and Kevin McBride being inferior to Dillian Whyte.

An old Ali with a style that is much more suitable for an old age due to it being less energy or durability demanding, was already showing signs of Parkinson at a much younger age and losing to inferior heavyweights than Dillian Whyte in a younger age, such as Leon Spinks and Trevor Berbick.

Even Holyfield was losing to the likes of James Toney, a blown up super middle-weight who was never a real heavyweight to begin with, when at same age as Povetkin is now.

Whereas Povetkin has still not lost to a single opponent that is not the undisputed top 2 current heavyweights in the world today.

So Alexander Povetkin's name deserves a lot more credit and respect. He is doing what no other heavyweight in the past has been able to do. So he's proven he deserves to at the very least, be mentioned in the same tier of greatness as those other 'great' western heavyweights.

The only reason why the likes of Povetkin are underrated, is because there is a prejudice, especially by people from the west, against Russian and Eastern European boxers. More so in the heavyweight division than any other, since heavyweight has always been dominated by boxers from the west, before Eastern Europeans were allowed to compete.

Now take that prejudice and bias perspective outta the window, and evaluate objectively, and you'll find Povetkin is one of the greatest heavyweights of all time.

The only thing that perhaps counts against Povetkin, is that he never held an ABC belt. But given that there are so many belts today, and given that many of the belt holders have factually an inferior resume to Povetkin, and some of them have even been directly beaten by Povetkin himself, not holding a title does not diminish his greatness in anyway shape or form.

Everyone who is honest, would know that Povetkin was robbed of unfairly from ever being given a chance of holding a belt during his peak years. And they had to frame him to get him off the picture. Otherwise, he would've been the one at the top for the last few years, and not Joshua or Wilder. He would've killed the hopes of the cash-cows from having their fairy-tale matches or trilogies.

Only Wladimir Klitschko is physically and stylistically all-wrong for Povetkin. Otherwise, he is at least a dangerous and a tough match-up for an opponent in history.

The only other boxer who is doing what Povetkin is doing at such an old-age with such a young man's style is Manny Pacquiao. Otherwise, such performances are unprecedented!

 

Except pretty much every other past heavyweight, even 'greats', weren't able to beat factually inferior heavyweights than Dillian Whyte when they themselves approached the age of 40. So my point still stands.

You clearly ignored the context of this win!

 

No. It's not.

 

Povetkins only two losses are at the hands of men with significant size advantages over him, his longevity especially considering his style is incredible, he's looked quite vulnerable lately but still managed to pull off a career best win

 

I wouldn't call it one of the single greatest wins necessarily, but it was a very good win at this stage of Povetkin's career against a good opponent who was still over hyped at the same time. It might be one of the best ever wins scored by a 40 years + heavyweight.

Let's not write Dillian off completely because he was ahead in the fight and got caught by a clever world-class opponent who knew he had to finish things quickly. The rematch could well be different.

To me though, Whyte is what he always was: a step down from the likes of Fury and Joshua, but is a solid top 10 guy.

Would have loved to have seen Eddie Hearn's face at the time of the KO!!

 

bullshirt!

 

I'd say he's one of the greatest juicers.

 

Povetkin has demonstrated great longevity for his style especially, I agree with that. He usually gets the 'W' still.

But he was almost 26 when he turned professional so comparisons with guys like Tyson or Ali or even Holyfield are not very accurate.

Also, yeah, Whyte's crap.
Povetkin did actually look like a shot old worn-out has-been in there against Whyte.
It's just that Whyte is at times very easy to hit with big punches.

 

I'm not a Whyte fan, but Whyte beat Parker and Rivas fair and square. Correct me if I'm wrong but if Whyte is beating top 10 opponents he cannot be that bad?

Whyte is a good boxer, deserving of a top 10 spot, but Povetkin KO'd him.

 

It's a great win, no doubt. But still Foreman's win over Michael Moorer and Larry Holmes' win over Ray Mercer were better since Whyte is clearly inferior fighter comparing to Moorer or Mercer

 

Thats like saying Ali is all wrong for Frazier. . Everybody knows Joe was a bad match-up for Ali stylistically , thats why Ali had to clinch so often.
The same is true for Wlad had had to clinch and bear hug far more than Ali did against Povetkin. . A clinch free fight could possibly result in Povetkin getting to Wlad at some point throughout the fight. . Just like Brewster did after the ref told Wlad to stop holding.

Anybody who has to foul constantly to win is at a stylistic disadvantage against that opponent.

Furthermore , Povetkin didn't have to produce a fight was was taxing and demanding for his age because Whyte was extremely flat footed. Povetkin didn't have to go looking for Whyte as he was standing there right in front of him.
Whyte didn't have any legs to take advantage of Povetkins age.

Its not one of the greatest wins in the sports history , but it does make Povetkin one of the best HWs to ever compete at age 40.

 

At what point would it be fair to say that dillian Whyte is just not that good?