Saturday night at Matchroom Fight Camp in Brentwood, England, 40-year-old Alexander Povetkin (36-2-1, 25 KOs), the former heavyweight champion from Chekhov, Russia, upset 32-year-old Dillian Whyte (27-2, 18 KOs), the WBC interim heavyweight champion from Brixton by way of Port Antonio, Jamaica, with a TKO at 0:30 of round 5.

 

After a competitive first round, Whyte took control of the bout. He had lost weight. He was moving well. He had a game plan he was executing. Landing hard shots upstairs and down, he was outboxing Povetkin, systematically breaking him down. Whyte dropped the Russian twice in round four. He twice beat the count, but it looked like it was over,. It was a matter of time.

 

Povetkin had other ideas. Thirty seconds into the fifth round, he caught Whyte with a perfectly timed left uppercut he didn’t see coming. Whyte was unconscious before he hit the deck. There was no reason to administer a count. He was out cold. Whyte had to be helped to his feet. He had to be reminded where he was.

 

“I didn’t think I would end the fight like this,” said Povetkin, “but I was pretty confident in the fourth round. I did go down twice, but it was OK, it wasn’t too much damage. I got woke up.”

 

So did boxing for the moment.

 

Whyte’s plans to fight Fury lay in ruins, whereas Povetkin’s future looks suddenly bright.

 

“My future doesn’t depend on me,” Povetkin said. “It is down to my promoter and Eddie and we will see what they decide.”

 

It’s heavyweight boxing. One punch changes everything, the complexion of a fight, the trajectory of careers.

 

“Dillian almost had that fight in the bag,” said promoter Eddie Hearn. “There is a rematch clause and the first thing Dillian said to me afterwards is ‘get me the rematch.’ We will be exercising that rematch clause and getting the fight on later this year. I do believe Dillian can come back and avenge defeat.”

 

That’s what Whyte has in mind.

 

“It is what it is,” he said. “We'll do it again.”