A new coin commissioned by the Gibraltar National Mint has been struck to celebrate the Interim WBC Heavyweight Championship fight to take place in Gibraltar between Brixton born Dillian ‘The Body Snatcher’ Whyte and Alexander ‘Russian Vityaz’ Povetkin.
Whyte and Povetkin were originally scheduled to face each other in May 2020, but had the meet postponed twice due to the pandemic, and eventually fought in Essex in August 2020 with Povetkin defeating Whyte in a fifth-round technical knockout.
This defeat was contested, and the match was once against scheduled for November 2020, however Povetkin tested positive for COVID-19 and it was rescheduled for 27th March 2021 and will take place in Gibraltar, with the fight being billed as ‘Rumble on The Rock’.
The Two Pound coin, which features both boxers’ portraits, is the first Official WBC coin to be released. Struck on Tuesday, for the first time at the Tower Mint in London, on behalf of the Gibraltar National Mint, a special event was held where Dillian Whyte’s former teachers from Lillian Baylis Technology School brought along a few current students to take part in the first striking of the coin.
The first coin was struck by Albert Poggio on behalf of the Mint and Julian Santos, a Gibraltarian lawyer, representing Dillian Whyte. Also present at the event was a representative of the British Boxing Board of Control.
Joining the event via FaceTime, Dillian remarked how grateful he was to his former teachers for helping him to achieve his goals, and how honoured he felt to be featured on a coin. He commented how much he was looking forward to visiting Gibraltar.
