Sulaimán: “Whyte Will Likely Get His Rematch, But Povetkin Has Options”

Mauricio Sulaimán speaks on possibility of Whyte v Povetkin rematch

Without question, Dillian “The Body Snatcher” Whyte (27-2, 18 KO’s) had a horrible night in the office in against Alexander “Russian Vityaz” Povetkin (36-2-1, 25 KO’s)! With one deft, crunching uppercut, Whyte was knocked out cold and lost his #1 WBC ranking and mandatory challenger position. Given the magnitude of the setback, Whyte has thus far taken the defeat gracefully and with much humility.

REMATCH? MAYBE, MAYBE NOT!

Part of his laid-back demeanor may come from Whyte’s plan to obtain a quick rematch with Povetkin. If that were indeed the case, then it would be understandable why he was taking the loss in such easy going stride. However, when WBC president Mauricio Sulaimán sat down to talk with Boxing Social, it became apparent that there would be more hurdles to overcome.

“The WBC rules, and this specific rule is very old, we have a provision of not allowing direct rematches. That’s a rule that was implemented in the 1970’s to clear the sport from a possibility of doing a fight that would result in an immediate rematch then you have control of the division. Or you leave open for a wrong doing or whatever the reason, the rule was put in place.”

“However, the WBC has approved many direct rematches when the fight is of importance to the world; when there is a public demand for such a fight, when there is a controversy, when there is a great fight and this fight has the elements. Because Whyte was dominating the fight, knocked him down twice in the fourth and then he got knocked out cold in the fifth round. So I would think that the WBC board would approve a rematch without any problems.”

So there is a great likelihood that Whyte will get his immediate rematch with Povetkin. However, it is far from written in stone.

SHIFT IN POWER

Obviously there is also the question of what Alexander Povetkin wants to do. Sure, providing Whyte a do-over would be the most honorable thing to do. But at the ripe age of 41, the Russian Vityaz simply doesn’t have fights to waste. At his discretion, Povetkin could wait on his chance to fight the Fury v Wilder 3 trilogy winner. Had the UK bruiser done that, he would not be out in the cold looking in right now.

All that is known for sure is Povetkin presently has all the backing in this situation.

“So the ruling, which was very clear, and I am happy that you and I spoke many time and nobody can come back and start another issue. Very clear, if Whyte won he was the immediate mandatory to fight the winner of Wilder/Fury. It’s not the case, Povetkin won, it’s a great scenario for him, its’ a great position! But we will see about the specifics for Alexander Povetkin.”

By: Bakari Simpson

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