By Eric Thomas: According to Fightnews.com, the management of IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko is saying that there’s no interest on his part in fighting Audley Harrison next. Apparently, Harrison had been quoted saying that Klitschko’s people had contacted him about a fight. This was quickly cleared up by Klitschko manager Bernd Bonte, who denied that they are interested in fighting the 38-year-old Harrison.

Who they are interested in fighting, however, is WBA heavyweight champion David Haye, but they haven’t been hearing anything from Haye recently. It’s now looking like Haye could be fighting Harrison next himself, because this would be a big fight for Haye and Harrison in the UK. Wladimir isn’t from the UK, and a fight between him and Harrison would be pointless and something that would likely cause Wladimir to take a lot of heat from the media, who probably see Klitschko as cherry picking an easy opponent.

Haye, 29, can partially get away with it because he’s from Britain and this is a fight that would genuinely be well received throughout the UK and would bring him a huge payday with little risk involved. The Klitschko brothers would likely do the same thing if there was an equivalent fighter in Germany that was popular but old and not quite top level.

If it meant big money, the Klitschkos would likely take the fight. Vitali Klitschko, the WBC heavyweight champion, recently defeated a hopelessly overmatched Alberto Sosnowski in his last fight in Germany. Sosnowski wasn’t a popular fighter among serious hardcore boxing fans but he had a strong following in Poland and Vitali was able to take advantage of that in pulling in big numbers in fighting him at the Veltins arena, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

Wladimir may have to wait around for awhile if he is serious about wanting to fight Haye, because the British fighter seems to have a long waiting list of opponents right now and he seems to be getting pulled in a lot of different directions. With the fight against Haye not likely to happen soon, Wladimir will be fighting his long overdue IBF mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin in September.

This should be a good fight. Povetkin is undefeated, has good power, excellent work rate and a good chin. It would pit two former Olympic Gold Medalists against each other – one a heavyweight from Russia and the other a super heavyweight from Ukraine. Wladimir will have a huge advantage in size, speed and power. But Povetkin will be bringing in youth and a work rate that could cause Wladimir a lot of problems.

Wladimir has run out of gas in a couple of his fights in the past, losing to Ross Puritty and Lamon Brewster after punching himself out. Povetkin will make Wladimir work harder than he has in many years and it could be interesting if Wladimir isn’t able to keep fighting at such a high pace. But at the same time, Povetkin could run into one of Wladimir’s big straight right hands or powerful left hooks and get stopped. Wladimir hits very hard and if he connects cleanly with one of his big shots, he could take Povetkin out.