Povetkin’s coach thinks he has “More willpower” than Klitschko

By Boxing News - 07/10/2010 - Comments

By Chris Williams: For what it’s worth, the coach of unbeaten heavyweight contender Alexander Povetkin (19-0, 14 KO’s) thinks he has more basic toughness compared to IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.

In an article at Rianovosti, Valery Belov, the coach for Povetkin, has this to say about him: “This will definitely not be an easy fight, but I believe that Alexander has more willpower and fighting spirit than Wladimir.”

There’s no doubt that Povetkin is a really tough fighter, who wants to win a heavyweight title and try to make a name for himself in the process. However, Povetkin is going up against a much bigger, stronger and more talented fighter in the 6’6″ 245 pound Klitschko. He does everything better than Povetkin except for fighting on the inside.

It may not matter how tough Povetkin is if all he’s doing is getting clobbered in every round. Povetkin needs more size, more and more hand speed to beat a fighter like Wladimir. Povetkin’s coach seems to know what Povetkin needs to do, saying “Sasha [Povetkin] needs to duck, evade and get closer to constantly attack.

Nothing good will happen if he works at long range convenient for Klitschko.” This is a good piece of advice, but anyone can see that Povetkin, with his limited reach, has no chance but to try and get close enough to land his combinations. The problem is Wladimir knows what Povetkin will be trying to do and his trainer Emanuel Steward will be working especially hard in coming up with a good plan to negate the smothering tactics that Povetkin will be trying against Wladimir.

My guess is that Povetkin will try to mug Wladimir on the inside and will try to bull him to the ropes in hoping of keeping him pinned there for long periods of time like the way that super middleweight Allan Green was pinned up against the ropes in his loss to Andre Ward in their Super Six bout recently.

Povetkin has to try and shove Wladimir around, bully him on the inside and not allow him to use his height and reach to fight. On the inside, Wladimir is much less susceptible to when he’s able to get leverage on his shots by fighting on the outside. Povetkin probably will be able to get inside on Wladimir a lot, but he may not be able to throw a lot of punches once he’s there because Wladimir will grab in a clinch and will prevent him from throwing punches.



Comments are closed.