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After waiting about two years as a mandatory challenger to Wladimir Klitschko, who holds damn near every title belt in the division, heavyweight Alexander Povetkin finally gets his shot at “Dr. Steelhammer” on Saturday night at The Olympiyskiy in Moscow.
That’s homeground for the Chekov-based Povetkin, 26-0 (18), but that is probably the only advantage the Russian will hold over Klitschko, 60-3 (51), once the bell rings.
A Olympic Gold Medallist, as was Klitschko, Povetkin has been expertly steered toward this moment, having been put in with, in just his 15th pro figh,t with the likes of former world champion Chris Byrd, in an IBF eliminator back in 2007.
Povetkin expertly jumped all the medium level opposition hurdles put in front of him after that, leading up to a victorious 2011 clash for the vacant WBA “Regular” belt with former IBF strapholder Ruslan Chagaev.
“Bad Alex” looked pretty good in disposing of journeyman Cedric Boswell for a first defense but then barely held onto his crown when basically beaten up by WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck in 2012.
Two quickie stoppage defenses against the exceedingly well-worn Hasim Rahman and the unknown Andrzej Wawrzyk over the last year have done nothing to prepare Povetkin for the far, far more difficult task of facing Wladimir Klitschko.
Klitschko may be 37 years of age, hasn’t been seriously tested by anyone over the last eight years and has, like Povetkin, been fighting muppets lately but won’t likely have to go out of first gear to handle his challenger on Saturday night.
Like Klitschko, Povetkin likes to stand at range and fire from the outside. If he tries that against Wlad, he’ll lose every single round and is unlikely to land in the double figures in any round.
To be successful against Klitschko, Povetkin will have to crowd the giant Ukrainian and turn the contest into a phone booth war. But that isn’t the Russian’s style at all. If he did manage to fight against type, Povetkin would have to make it past the long, hard jab of Klitschko and then the murderous right hand and left hook.
Who knows, perhaps Povetkin has a absolute granite chin, a heart of iron and previously unseen premier boxing skills? He’ll need all three if he is to unseat Klitschko on Saturday night.
The undercard sees a European title contest at cruiserweight with Mateusz Masternak, 30-0 (22), meeting Grigory Drozd, 36-1 (25), over a scheduled 12 rounds.
Masternak, of Poland, won the belt last December and picked up the WBC International Silver strap in May. Drozd, of Russia, owns the WBA International title and the winner of this one could possibly compete for a vacant Interim International Silver Continental strap if they are lucky.
