Dillian Whyte vs Alexander Povetkin Boxing Picks, Odds, Predictions 3/27/21

Alexander Povetkin and Dillian Whyte fight Saturday for the WBC interim heavyweight title at the Europa Point Sports Complex.  

Alexander Povetkin enters this fight with a 36-2-1 record that includes 25 knockouts. Povetkin has won seven of his last nine fights, and he’s coming off a Augsut win over Whyte. Povetkin is coming off fifth round knockout where he was a heavy underdog at +330 odds. Povetkin could have easily lost that bout after being dropped twice in the fourth round, but he landed a nasty left uppercut to shock the boxing world. Povetkin is a 41-year-old Russian who stands at 6’2”, has a 75-inch reach and an orthodox stance. Povetkin is your typical Russian boxer, as he stands in strong, doesn’t mind trading shots in the middle of the ring and has a strong chin and great toughness, as he showed in his last bout. Povetkin isn’t the biggest heavyweight in the world, but he packs a nice punch and has some underrated hand speed that allows him to put together combinations and be effective on the counter. The concern is that Povetkin has looked sloppy at times, is getting up there in age and has been dropped a few times over the years. This will be Povetkin’s first career fight in Gibraltar.

Dillian Whyte enters this fight with a 27-2 record that includes 18 knockouts. Whyte has won 11 of his last 12 fights and he’s coming off an August loss to Povetkin. Whyte lost his first bout since his 2015 meeting against Anthony Joshua and now hopes to avoid back-to-back losses for the first time in his career. Whyte has now been knocked out in both of his losses. Whyte is nearly 33 years old, stands at 6’4”, has a 78-inch reach and an orthodox stance. Whyte has very powerful hands, does a good job of working the body and usually throws combinations that’s followed by a left hand that can drop anybody when landed cleanly. Whyte wants to fight on the inside, as there’s not much footwork or movement at all to his attack and it can be a bit awkward at times. However, Whyte does have underrated head movement and can be viscous on counters. There’s questions with Whyte and certainly room for improvement, but his power and punch accuracy is up there with some of the best in the heavyweight division. This will be Whyte’s first career fight in Gibraltar.

There’s going to be value with Povetkin based on how the first bout went, as he showed ridiculous toughness after being dropped twice, and he landed a clean counter the next round to pull off the upset. Povetkin may be old and a bit washed up, but he’s still a tough Russian who isn’t going to be away easily. With that said, Whyte was winning the fight up to the knockout and proved to be the better boxer. He just ate a clean shot and got laid down. Whyte was controlling the inside, landing the more accruate shots and just got a bit too aggressive that opened himself up to a counter. Either way, Whyte should be favored here and hopefully he learned from his mistake.

I’ll take Whyte by knockout to lower this expensive ML price.