Bob Arum has warned Anthony Joshua he’ll lose to Kubrat Pulev after witnessing Dillian Whyte’s shock loss to Alexander Povetkin on Saturday.
Whyte was in control and seemingly on the verge of victory after two fourth round knockdowns, however former world champion Povetkin unleashed a monster uppercut in the fifth round which laid the Brixton man out cold.
Whyte has seen his hopes of facing WBC champion Tyson Fury shelved, after losing his WBC mandatory position and interim heavyweight title, following a period of 1000 days as number contender.
Top Rank CEO, Arum expressed no sympathy towards Whyte following the fight and insists unified champion Joshua, will come up short against IBF mandatory Kubrat Pulev, when the pair clash later this year.
“Dillian Whyte was so busy fighting for his WBC mandatory position that he didn’t see Povetkin’s uppercut, which knocked him cold on his a**,” Arum tweeted.
“Pulev will KO Joshua next. London Bridges are falling.”
WBC world champion Tyson Fury congratulated Povetkin on social media following his upset victory, with the Russian replacing Whyte as mandatory challenger to him.
After the WBC tweeted a photo of the 40-year-old captioned: “The Interim and Diamond heavyweight champion of the WBC: ALEXANDER POVETKIN,” Fury responded by saying, “40 & proud.”
40 & proud 👍 https://t.co/oMui1aooNR
— TYSON FURY (@Tyson_Fury) August 22, 2020
Former unified Heavyweight world champion Andy Ruiz Jr, who is set to return against Chris Arreola, following his unanimous decision defeat to Joshua last December, slammed his rival in a scathing assessment on Instagram and expressed his delight at seeing Whyte get stopped.
“I was so happy that Whyte f****** got his f****** a** knocked the f*** out,” said Ruiz Jr.
Andy Ruiz Jr has no sympathy for Dillian Whyte after his KO defeat to Alexander Povetkin…
[🎥 @Andy_Destroyer1] pic.twitter.com/I54xa58jVd
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) August 23, 2020
“You know why, because he doesn’t have respect for the fighters, that’s what gets me p***** off.”
Light-Heavyweight contender Anthony Yarde was far more sympathetic towards ‘The Body Snatcher,’ insisting he will return from the loss.
Yarde tweeted: “@DillianWhyte keep your head up bro. Look how much you have achieved and will continue to achieve.”
💔 @DillianWhyte keep your head up bro. Look how much you have achieved and will continue to achieve
— Anthony Yarde (@thebeastyarde) August 22, 2020
Anthony Joshua also backed his rival to bounce back from defeat and believes it remains a “blip” in his career.
“Dillian spent months and months in Portugal training, preparing and something like that can happen,” Joshua told Sky Sports.
“I feel like the training doesn’t only add up to this fight with Povetkin, he’s got how many years in the sport, so this is just a blip in the career.
“Dillian fights for himself, people would say loads of things now, people are going to talk all sorts of stuff about Dillian’s performance.
“Dillian’s a fighter so I stick with him as a fighter and say, dust yourself off, get back up and go again.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed he will exercise the rematch clause and Whyte also expressed his desire to fight Povetkin again in December.
