By Erik Schmidt: After watching unbeaten heavyweight Alexander Povetkin (16-0, 12 KOs) dispatch a rather reluctant, timid-looking Taurus Sykes (25-5-1, 7 KOs) in the 4th round last Saturday night at the Olimpyskiy Sports Palace, in Chekhov, Russia, I have grave concerns about whether Povetkin, 28, is ready for a fight against IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in the near future. Given the fact that Povetkin not too long ago won the IBF tournament to become Klitschko’s number # 1 mandatory challenger, by defeating Americans Chris Byrd and Eddie Chambers, it put Povetkin in line for a shot against Klitschko.
That’s all well and good, but with only 16 fights under his belt, I’m not sure if it’s especially smart for Povetkin to be thrust into a fight this early with a fighter as seasoned, powerful, elusive and as tall as Wladimir. Say what you will about Wladimir having a bad chin, but he’s done reasonably good job of protecting it for the past four years, going unbeaten in his last nine fights since losing to Lamon Brewster by a 5th round TKO in April 2004. Povetkin, a 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist and considered perhaps the 2nd or 3rd best heavyweight in the division at this point, doesn’t really have the kind of one-punch power that Wladimir has historically had problems with.
In comparison to Brewster, Corrie Sanders, Samuel Peter, and Ross Puritty, I’d rate Povetkin’s power far below theirs. He has good power, but not the kind of concussive shots that the above mentioned fighter possesses with each punch.
His speed and size are also limiting factors for Povetkin, for he’s not really fast enough with his hands or feet to get in range quickly to land against Wladimir. He doesn’t shuffle in quickly, like say Corrie Sanders, and doesn’t have the quick thudding right that Puritty had in his prime. That’s going to be a problem for him against Wladimir, because he can’t stand on the outside and expect to be able to land. Wladimir’s too tall for that to happen, and when he comes inside in his typical plodding style of moving, he’s going to get hit with a lot straight rights, left hooks and jabs from Wladimir on the way in. So far, Povetkin has stood up well in all 16 of his fights, not showing any signs of being hurt by any of his opponents thus far.
However, his face was badly marked up against Chambers, who had both his eyes swollen and purple with the few shots that he was hit with. Against Wladimir, Povetkin is going to take a lot of shots, many more than he did against Byrd and Chambers, and will possibly bust up early. Povetkin did show some promise in his recent fight with Sykes, showing a new scrambling attack in which he would rush forward at top speed to try and limit the damage that he normally takes while plodding in.
Though it worked well against Sykes, I’m not sure a wide open style of attacking like that would work against a skilled fighter like Wladimir. Povetkin’s not really showing good boxing judgment in fighting like this, even it did work for him in his recent fight against Sykes. Wladimir would probably hit him with some big shots while he’s going in, having the benefit of longer arms and quicker hands, and might take Povetkin out with something that he doesn’t see in his mad rush to get in punching range against Wladimir.