By Scott Gilfoid: In what could be seen as a bad omen for #1 WBC challenger Alexander Povetkin (30-1, 22 KOs); former heavyweight world champion Lennox Lewis is giving him the advantage in his title fight against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (36-0, 35 KOs) in their fight on May 21 on Showtime Boxing.
Lewis likes the 36-year-old Povetkin’s experience in this fight, and he feels that the 6’7” Wilder has many flaws that have him worried. However, Lewis also feels that Deontay’s power could be the factor that ultimately saves him in this fight.
@RPopBox Advantage Povetkin. Much more experience and too many weaknesses in Deontays game worry me. His power can bail him out tho.
— Lennox Lewis (@LennoxLewis) March 13, 2016
Povetkin definitely has the hot hand of late with his wins over Carlos Takam, Mike Perez, Mariusz Wach and Manuel Charr. Those were good wins for Povetkin, to be sure. Never the less, the last time I checked, none of those guys were world champions at any time, and none of them were named Deontay Wilder. As such, it really doesn’t matter who Povetkin has beaten lately. If their names weren’t Deontay, then it matters little.
What is important was how Povetkin looked in his defeat against Wladimir Klitschko in 2013. That was the only real fight that Povetkin has had against a tall heavyweight with talent. Povetkin has beaten some tall guys during his pro career like the 6’7 ½” Wach and the 6’5” Andrzej Wawrzyk.
Those guys were definitely very tall fighters, and Povetkin did what he had to in order to beat them. However, they weren’t talented. They were what you call mediocre fighters, and even in those fights, Povetkin didn’t look great. He looked like a short old guy against weak opposition. The fight that you really need to look at in order to get a good gauge of how Povetkin will do against Deontay is Povetkin’s fight against Wladimir.
Let me put this gently; Povetkin was TOTALLY dominated by Wladimir. It was to the point where Povetkin was just getting clowned in there. Wladimir knocked Povetkin down four times in the fight, and he was lucky that the referee didn’t stop the contest after the fourth knockdown, because the fight had become comical by that point.
It wasn’t that Povetkin didn’t have the power to compete against Wladimir. The problem Povetkin had is he was just too little. He was too short. Povetkin looked like a stocky cruiserweight that had wondered into the wrong ring and ended up fighting Wladimir instead of another short, round guy. Povetkin didn’t have the height, reach or the talent to deal with what Wladimir was bringing in that fight.
What Lewis fails to talk about is how much younger, faster, taller, stronger and more mobile the talented Deontay is compared to the smallish 6’2” Povetkin. Deontay will be sporting a five inch height and a whopping eight-inch reach advantage over the 36-year-old Povetkin.
Normally when you get a fighter with that kind of size advantage in a fight, it’s a slam-dunk win. Of course, if Wilder fights in a foolish manner by giving up his height, staying stationary and not using his power, then you would have to give Povetkin a great chance of winning. However, Deontay is a very intelligent fighter, and he’s not going to fight in an amateurish manner that would enable Povetkin to do well in this fight.
Povetkin is a gold medal winner from the 2004 Olympics. However, his Olympic fights involved fighters that were forced to come straight at him due to the fights being only four rounds. You had to slug and couldn’t really box in Olympic competition if you wanted to win. Deontay is going to have a huge advantage of being able to use the ring, and box and slug for 12 rounds.
I hate to disagree with the old champ Lewis, but I have to. I think he’s completely out in left field with his belief that Povetkin has the advantage in the fight. I also think he’s given Povetkin bad luck by saying he’s got the advantage, because now I see Povetkin losing the fight big time.
Lewis fought as a pro from 1989 to 2003. During that time, he captured the following heavyweight world titles: IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC. Lewis retired after stopping Vitali Klitschko in the 6th round in 2003.
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