By Tim Royner: #2 WBA Alexander Povetkin (33-1, 23 KOs) outworked a timid, survival-oriented #3 WBA Christian Hammer (22-5, 12 KOs) to win a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision in their WBA heavyweight title eliminator match on Friday night at the DIVS, Ekaterinburg, Russia.
The scores were 120-107, 120-108, and 118-108. Boxing New 24 had Povetkin winning the fight by the score 120-107. Hammer, 30, lost a point in round 7 for holding. The referee had warned the German based Hammer repeatedly to stop putting Povetkin in headlocks, but he couldn’t stop doing that.
Even after the point deduction, Hammer continued to periodically put Povetkin in headlocks. Thankfully, the referee didn’t disqualify Hammer. That would have looked bad. It was bad enough Hammer was soundly beaten by Povetkin.
“I have confirmation from WBA that Anthony Joshua must fight the Povetkin-Hammer,” Povetkin’s promoter Andrey Ryabinskiy said.
The 38-year-old Povetkin’s victory installs him as the mandatory challenger to World Boxing Association heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. The WBA will need to order Joshua and Povetkin to fight each other, however. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has other plans for him in 2018 with 3 possible fights against Joseph Parker, Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury. If plays out like that, Povetkin won’t get a title shot until 2019. By that time, Povetkin will be 40-years-old. It would be in Povetkin’s best interest for the WBA to order a fight between him and Joshua in 2018, because he’s not going to have much of a chance to beat him if he has to wait 2 years for the title shot.
The 223 lb. Povetkin plodded after the much heavier 256 pound Hammer. Povetkin did land a lot of left hooks to the head and body, as well as rights, but Hammer had so much size on him. He wasn’t ever really bothered by Povetkin’s punches. The 2 heavyweights looked like they belonged in different divisions. It was lucky for Povetkin that Hammer didn’t have much power, and he wasn’t inclined to throw punches. If this had been a knockout artist like Deontay Wilder or Joshua, Povetkin would have had problems.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmGJzsT7WRI
Hammer never came close to winning any of the rounds. He was too economical with his punches. The only time Hammer would throw any shots was when Povetkin would open up with 2 to 3 punch combinations. Hammer didn’t like getting hit by so many shots in succession, so he would tag Povetkin with right hands in between or after the combinations. Hammer’s shots often knocked Povetkin backwards because he wasn’t ready for them. Povetkin wasn’t ready to be hit back by Hammer, considering he threw so few punches in the fight.
The 30-year-old Hammer spent most of the fight holding, moving and trying to get away from the older and smaller Povetkin. He didn’t look at all like he wanted to tangle with Povetkin. It was a pure survival oriented fight from Hammer tonight. He looked like he was afraid of Povetkin despite the fact that the Russian heavyweight didn’t have the size or the offensive skills to hurt him. Hammer didn’t have the engine to fight hard or the courage. He looked like a guy that simply didn’t have the desire to win.
Some of the rounds were close ones in which Povetkin would get nailed by some big punches late in the round by Hammer. Povetkin was always outworking Hammer, but he still had problems when the Romanian heavyweight would catch him with big shots late in the rounds.
In the final seconds of round 4, Povetkin was caught by a hard right hand from Hammer that knocked him off balance. The sheer size and weight of Hammer gave the 223 lb. Povetkin problems. He didn’t have the weight behind him to take some of the shots the 256 lb. Hammer would hit him with at times. It’s going to be a lot tougher for Povetkin when he gets hit by the shots from the 254 pound Joshua, because he has the weight, power, speed and youth advantage over him. Povetkin is not a Mike Tyson like puncher, and that’s the problem. He’s not heavy enough to be mixing it up with the bigger guys in the division like Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder. Even a big guy that’s not a big puncher like Hammer tonight was a problem for him.
The referee gave Hammer his final warning in round 5 for holding. It didn’t look like Hammer was doing a great deal of holding. Never the less, the referee wasn’t putting up with any holding. I’ve seen other fighters do more holding than Hammer was doing, and they weren’t warned or penalized. This referee was strict.
It’s unfortunate the World Boxing Association didn’t rank a better fighter than Hammer to face Povetkin tonight, seeing that there are a number of unquestionably better contenders in their top 15 ranking than him. Jarrell Miler, Bryant Jennings and Kubrat Pulev would have given Povetkin far more problems tonight than Hammer did. Hammer was recently dropped in the 5th round by David Price last February in their fight in Kensington. Price gassed out in that fight, and this allowed Hammer to come back and knock him out in the 7th. Hammer wasn’t so lucky tonight. Povetkin didn’t gas out, and he ended up getting soundly beaten.