By Scott Gilfoid: Former WBA heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (29-1, 21 KOs) says his plans are for him to defeat the 6’7 ½” Mariusz Wach (31-1, 17 KOs) in their scheduled 12 round fight this Wednesday on November 4th, and then move forward to defeat the equally big 6’7” WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (35-0, 34 KOs) next year in the first quarter of 2016, and then top it off by beating the 6’6” IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (64-3, 53 KOs) in a rematch.
For Povetkin, 36, to realize his vision thing, he’ll need to beat three towering heavyweights in a row, and prove that he can overcome a height disparity of 4 to 5 ½” inches. Povetkin looked terrible in losing to Wladimir by a 12 round decision in 2013, and I don’t think that a rematch with him would make a difference at all.
Povetkin would still be too short no matter how many times they fight each other. Wladimir knocked Povetkin down four times in the fight, and he was fortunate not to be knocked out. Wladimir dropped Povetkin four times in the fight while fighting in a conservative manner.
The hard hitting Deontay Wilder won’t be conservative when he gets inside the ring with Povetkin. He’s going to make the Russian fighter feel a lot of hard leather in their fight, and I’d be surprised if Povetkin will be able to make it to the 7th round, because he doesn’t appear to have the same kind of toughness that Wilder’s last opponent Johann Duhaupas had in being able to make it to the 11th round with him.
“Of course, I want to fight Wilder. He’s very tough,” Povetkin said to Fightnews. “He’s a strong opponent, and of course I want to take the WBC title for myself. I’m thinking in the future, once I do that, there could be an opportunity to fight Wladimir Klitschko again. But what I’ve got to do now is concentrate on Wach, because all those are future plans. Some people think I don’t box too well against tall guys, and I want to dispel this. I can fight well against tall guys,” Povetkin said.
Povetkin and Wach will be facing each other at the Basket-Hall Arena, in Kazan, Russia. This is supposed to be an easy fight for Povetkin because the 35-year-old Wach is not a good fighter, and he’s already been beaten by Wladimir Klitschko several years ago in losing by a one-sided 12 round decision in 2012.
That was the only quality fighter that Wach has faced during his career. The rest of the guys are poor 2nd and 3rd tier opposition. Since the loss to Klitschko, Wach has beaten the following fighters: Samir Kurtagic Gbenga Oluokun, Travis Walker and Konstantin Airich. These are the same types of opponents that Wach has fought since the start of his career 10 years ago in 2005.
The undercard of the Povetkin-Wach fight card has the following fights:
Cesar Rene Cuenca vs. Eduard Troyanovsky
Svetlana Kulakova vs. Ana Laura Esteche
Rakhim Chakhkiev vs. Ola Afolabi
Denis Lebedev vs. Lateef Kayode
Dmitry Kudryashov vs. Olanrewaju Durodola
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