By Eric Thomas: Unless IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (59-3, 50 KO’s) is somehow able to wriggle out of it, he’s going to have to face WBA heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (25-0, 17 KO’s) before February 26th or else he’ll likely be stripped of his WBA Super World heavyweight title. The World Boxing Associated ordered that Wladimir has to face Povetkin by February 26th, and it doesn’t look like he’s going to be able to avoid the fight.
Wladimir’s manager Bernd Boente thought that Wladimir had until July to face Povetkin, so they’re going to see if it’s possible to wait until then before having to fight him. That’s not much of a difference to be honest, and if it matters that much that Wladimir has to put off the Povetkin fight for a mere three months then you have to wonder if there’s some worry in Klitschko’s camp about this fight.
Wladimir and Povetkin were supposed to fight on two other occasions starting in 2008. Povetkin injured his foot while training and that blew up the fight. Then in 2010, Wladimir and Povetkin were ready to fight once again but this time Povetkin was talked out of taking the fight by his trainer.
It’s too bad Povetkin didn’t take the fight because he would have made the biggest payday of his career in a $2 million payday. Nothing has changed since then. If anything, Povetkin isn’t quite as good as he was in 2010, and the same with Wladimir, but it’s not really winnable fight for Povetkin unless he can somehow get lucky and land a big shot to KO the big 6’6” Ukrainian fighter.
Povetkin captured the WBA World heavyweight title in August 2011 with a hard earned 12 round unanimous decision over former WBA champ Ruslan Chagaev. This was the same fighter that Wladimir blew out in 9 rounds in June 2009. Povetkin has beaten two old heavyweights in Cedric Boswell and Hasim Rahman, as well as a narrow 12 round majority decision win over cruiserweight Marco Huck in February 2012.
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