I'd love for Wilder's manager to be sincere about this, but not holding my breath. The first thing he needs to do is forget about Alabama and Mississippi. Wilder-Povetkin in Mississippi?? Nah....

Frankly, if this fight were to come off, I think it would be the turning of the corner for Wilder (should he win impressively) as far as his public perception is concerned. A legitimate victory over a worthy, elite level challenger. Haters would probably immediately denigrate Povetkin, but such is the nature of boxing fandom.

On the other side, if I were Povetkin's camp, I'd be rattling the tree as hard as I could in an effort to force the fight to get made. From what I've seen of Povetkin, I'd give him a pretty good chance against Wilder. Win or lose, it would be competitive and exciting to watch. One thing we can be assured of. Wilder wouldn't turn the fight into the ugly mauling, clinching, leaning stinko of a fight like Wladimir did. Man, I'm glad Wlad's out of the picture!