That was a shell in there, you could tell at the weight in that Povetkin wasn't taking this seriously, he was given a big fat check and was told to take it easy before the fight.. Good on him he wasn't going to get a world title shot so might as well get the cash out... Hopefully retires now...
I thought his legs looked shaky even when walking to the ring. He was a complete shell stumbling around from the start, clearly still suffering from Covid effects
I was shocked as well to see Povetkin in that poor shape. Could be the age, could be the covid, could be that he's been worn down by the previous fights, could be that he was damaged early by Whyte in round 1 or whatever. But something was really strange, I mean he walked weird into the ring and was gone within the first round it appeared. Come on, a professional boxer should be able to box 3 minutes at least, regardless of age, covid here or there. He should be able to go through 1 round until age or covid start to have effect. Something just seemed strange there. And he took many big shots by Whyte without completely going to sleep, so it can't be that...
No suprise. Povetkin always was durable, he had fought boxers who hit harder than Whyte and had not been finished. Ofc then this was prime Povetkin, like 34 y.o Pov vs Wlad. Wlad did not had finished him, they went all 12 rounds. Not only Wlad, he fought a lot hard hitting boxers and had won. Okey, A.J vobbled him and then he was over the hill long before their fight. If legs are gone, then no. See thread about weight ins before fight and you will see comments.
Why? If you are not top level athlete then you might pretty normally work as the same, are you 35 or 50. A lot of jobs you might do when you are even 75, if you are skilled for this job. We do not see a lot NBA and NHL players older than 35, okey, NHL gatekeepers is kind of players who usually last longer than others in ice hockey and there had been enough elite level below 40. The same is applied to marathon and sprint, a lot different kind non combat s. To be athlete is young man's business. There a lot of notable boxers had retired when they were below 39 y.o
Sadly time stands still for no man and Povetkin found out on Saturday that the aging process accelerates rapidly when man hits 40.