By Jason Kim: WBA World heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (24-0, 16 KO’s) was given a real gift by the World Boxing Association by them making 39-year-old former WBC heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman (50-7-2, 41 KO’s) his mandatory challenger for a fight on September 29th at the Sporthalle, Alsterdorf, in Hamburg, Germany.

Rahman at one time was one of the best heavyweights in the division eight years ago, but he’s really aged and his game has deteriorated. What’s amazing is that he was given a no.1 ranking by the WBA off of wins over the following heavyweights:

Clinton Boldridge (9-15-1)
Shannon Miller (16-4)
Damon Reed (46-13)
Marcus McGee (22-17)
Galen Brown (35-16-1)

Those are all B to C level heavyweights and not the kind so fighters that you would assume would lead to a number #1 ranking. The way that Rahman is being given a title shot off of beating lesser heavyweights late in his career reminds me a lot of how Evander Holyfield kept getting shots at titles in his 40s despite the fact that he was only beating non-top 15 ranked heavyweights. Rahman is really over his head in the Povetkin fight and it’s going to be apparent as soon as the punches start flying.

Povetkin has defended his WBA title twice since capturing the vacant title with a win over Ruslan Chagaev last year in August. Povetkin has defended the title twice, beating 42-year-old Cedric Boswell and Marco Huck. The win over Huck was a controversial one with Povetkin nicking a 12 round majority decision by the scores of 114-114, 116-113 and 116-112. Impressive boxing it was not by either fighter. Huck looked like a primitive rabbit punching fighter who was only capable of fighting in brief spurts followed by long periods of rest, while Povetkin just looked fat and out of shape. Povetkin was able to throw a lot of punches and outwork the harder hitting Huck.

It’s been quite some time since Rahman beat anyone of quality, and it’s going to be a real ask for him to try and pull off an upset in this fight. I don’t think he can do it at his age, but he has the power if he can go all out in the early going and maybe catch Povetkin with one big shot.