Charr takes risky fight against Povetkin in Moscow, Russia on May 30th

By Boxing News - 05/02/2014 - Comments

CharrPovetkinBy Allan Fox: The ambitious #7 WBC heavyweight contender Manuel Charr (26-1, 15 KO’s) will be taking a very risky fight for him against former WBA heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (26-1, 18 KO’s) this month on May 30th at a still to be determined venue in Moscow, Russia. The two fighters will be battling it out for the vacant WBC International heavyweight title, but that’s not what the main prize is. The winner of the Charr-Povetkin fight will get pushed up the WBC rankings nearer to the top.

For Charr, that’s an ideal situation, but it still won’t solve all of his problems. He’d still need to fight one of the top contenders in the division to become the mandatory, and there’s already a mandatory challenger in place in Deontay Wilder. Bryant Jennings and Michael Perez will be facing each other this month on May 24th in a second WBC heavyweight title eliminator, which means that Charr could wind up waiting for well over a year, possibly more before he gets a shot at the WBC heavyweight title even if he does get by Povetkin.

Povetkin, #3 WBA, lost his WBA title to IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in losing a 12 round decision last October in Moscow, Russia, Povetkin didn’t have the size, power or speed to compete with Wladimir, and he also struggled due to the constant clinching that the 6’6″ Wladimir used in the fight. This was Povetkin’s first loss of his career, and there was no shame in him losing to someone as good as Wladimir.

Charr, 29, is coming off of a 10 round unanimous decision win over journeyman Kevin Johnson last month on April 12th. The fight was a lot closer than the three judges scored it, but Charr won but he did not look good at all. Charr made Johnson look like a champion in that fight, and he was quite lucky that Johnson failed to throw enough punches. Charr was selected by former WBC heavyweight champion for a world title shot in 2012, and was taken out in the 4th round after suffering a bad cut. Charr had done little to deserve the fight with Vitali other than beating a handful of journeyman level heavyweights. Vitali opted to take the fight with Charr because he was a recognizable fighter in Germany. It was a one-sided fight with Charr being too small, slow and limited to compete with the bigger and much more experienced Vitali.

Charr’s chances of beating Povetkin are quite low. Povetkin is a much better fighter than Charr, and this should be a fairly easy fight for Povetkin as long as he throws enough punches. Charr really didn’t have to take this kind of fight, because he’d eventually get another world title shot in 2-3 years just by hanging around and fighting the 3rd tier opposition that he’s been fighting. But Charr wants to speed up the process, and the best way for him to do that is to fight Povetkin. It’s probably the wrong opponent for Charr, because Povetkin has too much skills for Charr, and we’re probably going to see Charr badly exposed in this fight. Povetkin captured a gold medal in the 2004 Olympics. Charr doesn’t have the same credentials that Povetkin has going for him.



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