By Eric Thomas: IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (54-3, 48 KO’s) will be defending his titles on September 11th against his number #1 IBF challenger former 2004 Olympic heavyweight Gold Medalist unbeaten Alexander Povetkin (19-0, 14 KO’s) at the Commerzbank-Arena, in Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany. It’s been known already that the 34-year-old Klitschko was going to be fighting Povetkin next.

What’s different is the September 11th date has been confirmed for the fight. Previously, the fight had two possible dates – September 11th and September 18th. Klitschko had been hoping that the fight would be picked up by HBO to show to United States boxing fans. However, Ross Greenburg, the president of HBO Sports, has decided to take a pass on the Klitschko-Povetkin fight and will instead wait around for Klitschko to fight WBA heavyweight champion David Haye or defend his titles against Tomasz Adamek before they consider showing any of Wladimir’s fights in the United States. Greenburg wants to ensure that there’s fan interest for Klitschko’s fights before showing them.

In an article at Sky Sports, Wladimir had this to say about the 30-year-old Povetkin: “Povetkin is a very strong opponent — that we are both Olympic champions speaks for itself. It will be a tough fight, but for me there are no doubts that I will keep my titles.” Klitschko won an Olympic Gold Medalist in the super heavyweight class in the 1996 Olympics while fighting for Ukraine.

For Wladimir, this will be his 9th defense of his International Boxing Federation heavyweight title that he won way back in April 2006 with a 7th round TKO of then IBF champion Chris Byrd. Since capturing the title, Klitschko has blown out his last eight opponents, stopping seven of them inside the distance. None of the fights have been particularly entertaining to watch unfortunately, as Klitschko has dominated all eight of his last opponents. The closest fight that you could remotely consider competitive was Wladimir’s 11th round TKO win over 6’5” southpaw Tony Thompson in July 2008. Wladimir was hit more in that fight than he had ever been hit before. The combinations of Thompson’s height, reach, southpaw stance and Wladimir’s over-cautiousness left Thompson in the fight far too long and enabled him to land a lot of shots. When Wladimir’s trainer Emanuel Steward was able to get Wladimir to go after Thompson looking for a knockout, Wladimir put an end to matters in the 11th.

Klitschko had hopes of fighting a unification bout with WBA heavyweight champion David Haye next, but Haye couldn’t agree on a contract with Wladimir during their recent negotiations. Wladimir still hopes to fight Haye in the future, perhaps early next year if possible. Beyond Haye and Adamek, there are really no other heavyweights that can attract much interest as an opponent for Klitschko right now. The other heavyweights in the division are either too limited and or not well known enough for fans to really take notice as a potential opponent for Wladimir or his brother WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko. Haye is the number #1 target for both Klitschko brothers, but they’ve been having problems trying to get Haye into the ring for some reason.