Former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye says there was no fortune involved in Alexander Povetkin’s brutal fifth round KO of Dillian Whyte in August.
Whyte has insisted he was caught by a ‘lucky shot’ after an exquisite left uppercut from Povetkin separated him from his senses in a fight the Londoner was clearly winning, having scored two earlier knockdowns.
But Haye, manager of Whyte’s old rival Dereck Chisora, says that left uppercut is arguably Povetkin’s best shot and that the Russian unleashed it numerous times in sparring with his fighter, who has his own testing assignment against Oleksandr Usyk on October 31.
Whyte’s quick rematch with Povetkin on November 21 is a high risk assignment and the Brixton man needs to change his ‘lucky punch’ mindset, says Haye.
“It’s a very dangerous fight and it’s a fight that I think Dillian doesn’t want to accept it was nothing other than a lucky punch,” Haye told Sky Sports.
“He thought, ‘I was winning the fight’, which he was, ‘I had him knocked down twice in the fourth round and I was winning the fifth round until I got hit by one shot and that was it’. Anything can happen in boxing, it happens in the heavyweight division.
“I don’t think that’s the mindset you need. You can’t say, ‘You won because it was an anomaly’. That left uppercut that [Povetkin] threw knocked out Carlos Takam, in a very even fight, in a very good toe-to-toe fight.
“It’s a shot that he throws regularly. Dereck was telling me when he sparred with [Povtekin], he was getting hit with that shot, so it’s one of his shots, and to get hit with someone’s best shot isn’t very lucky is it.
“The guy has got a big shot. It’s like getting caught with Dillian Whyte’s left hook. You know it’s there if you can practice to go under it, if you throw your right hook to the body or not, or you can stand up and get knocked out.
“I think he’ll win the rematch. I think he’s too fresh,” added Haye. “He needs to make sure the issue that he had in that Povetkin fight doesn’t happen again and he can prove that, the same way that AJ did against Andy Ruiz.
“You can learn. [Whyte] didn’t have a deep wealth of amateur pedigree. He comes from a kickboxing background, a few amateur fights, and then he jumped straight into the pros and had to do it the hard way.
“He’s a seasoned guy, but he doesn’t have the technical pedigree that Anthony Joshua has – an Olympic gold medal. Povetkin is another Olympic gold medallist, so he needs to use his attributes which is rough, tough, physical.
“He was trying to get too close and have a technical back and forth and I’m like, ‘Why do you need to do that for?’ Why don’t you do what you do best and that’s hit people with jabs and throw big, massive left hooks that knock people out?”