IMAGINE that it’s last Sunday morning and you’re Dillian Whyte. The previous night one punch from a 40-year old veteran abruptly ended the 1,000 days you’ve spent as the No 1 mandatory contender for the WBC heavyweight title, which at long last you were in line to challenge for after coming through this fight. 

But you didn’t come through this fight, you lost, and now like a man falling off a mountain just before reaching the top, all of a sudden everything you’ve strived for, the years of pain and agony you’ve endured, appears to have been for nothing. 

Making your defeat all the more agonising is that you had your opponent down twice in the previous round, and that with the 40-year-old Russian visibly tiring, only something approximating a Hail Mary punch could have possibly turned things around at this point in the fight. 

Such a Hail Mary punch came when you made the cardinal mistake of leaning over your left foot with your guard open. Alexander Povetkin, a former Olympic champion whose 39-match record as a pro registers just two losses, got into position for the uppercut behind a left jab and threw the former with such accuracy that you were out before you hit the canvas.

Yes, no doubt, in the cruellest sport there is Dillian Whyte suffered the cruellest blow.

That he can come again is the consensus of the boxing commentariat and, given his character and the tenacity he’s shown in a career in which he hasn’t had his travails to seek, this is no doubt true. However, before he does, while reflecting on what went wrong and what went right, it’ll be hard to avoid concluding that parting company with his long-time trainer, Mark Tibbs, a couple of months out from the fight was a grievous mistake.

Under Tibbs, Whyte’s improvements had been self-evident and consistent over time. Though he could never be accused of being easy on the eye, the Brixton giant has rarely been in a boring fight, and like a latter day Archie Moore fights anyone is willing to fight all comers no matter the risk. And even though against Povetkin the risk didn’t pay off, with a rematch clause in place he can take solace in being afforded the opportunity of doing it all over again before the year is out.

With this in mind, if the door to the possibility of rekindling his partnership with Tibbs still open, I’m sure I speak for many in suggesting that he do exactly that for the rematch. 

For Povetkin, the old saw that life begins at 40 was stamped across his face in the aftermath, basking in the sweet thrill of having just proved everyone wrong. Yet no-one who’s followed the Russian’s career would have been overly surprised. Supremely skilled, the former WBA champion has always possessed great feet, an excellent variety of shots, potent power and a mastery of angles in the ring. 

But still, the man is 40, as in 40 years of age. What measure of defiance of Father Time is this? Little wonder that he returned home to a hero’s welcome in Russia. In a land of giants he’s just proved again that all David needs to defeat Goliath is a stone and a slingshot. In this version of the biblical, the slingshot was the feet that got him into position and the stone a perfectly placed left uppercut.

As for the rest of the card in this, the last of Eddie Hearn’s worthy Fight Camp series, the other stand out contest saw Britain’s Katie Taylor successfully defend her undisputed lightweight world title against Delfine Persoon of Belgium to increase her unbeaten record to 16 fights and zero losses with no draws. Both women put on a superb show over 10 hard rounds, with the last two rounds in particular a scintillating spectacle. 

Women’s boxing has a great ambassador in Taylor, who is now a regular feature on the cards of main events, successfully establishing herself as firm fan favourite.

Fight Camp, as I wrote in a previous column, was a roll of the dice by Hearn. In an unprecedented time of pandemic, only unprecedented innovation and imagination was going to pull off such an event. That Hearn and his team succeeded in doing so with all the challenges involved was a tremendous achievement.

Now, with Whyte’s mandatory position gone, a major obstacle to the much anticipated and eagerly awaited clash between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua has been removed. Whether said clash, mooted to take place sometime next year, will involve the belts both fighters hold between them depends on them overcoming Deontay Wilder and Kubrat Pulev respectively in their next fight.

Assuming they do, the stage will be set for two current British world heavyweight champions to meet in a ring for the first time in boxing history. And whatever happens this ring must be located in the UK and not in the Middle East or anywhere else. 

The greater revenue generated by holding the fight abroad has to be offset by the unique atmosphere generated by a stadium full of British fight fans. And given that it’s those very fans who’ve supported both men throughout their careers, it’s only fair and fitting that they are afforded the opportunity to see this fight live. Greed after all is a sin, and never more than when it comes to an event which would see both fighters and their respective promoters make more than enough if the fight is held on these shores rather than abroad.

Heavyweight boxing — indeed boxing as a whole — is currently in rude health, despite Covid. Let’s hope it stays that way.

John’s book — This Boxing Game: A Journey in Beautiful Brutality — is currently available from all major booksellers.