By Dan Ambrose: Once again, WBA World heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (24-0, 16 KO’s) will be defending his title against another older heavyweight when he defends against his mandatory challenger 39-year-old Hasim Rahman (50-7-2, 41 KO’s) in a fight that is supposed to be taking place in the middle of July at a still to be determined venue in Germany.

Povetkin barely won his last defense against WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck, who moved up in weight to try and capture the World Boxing Association title against easily the weakest of the three heavyweight champions. Huck came close to getting the win but Povetkin held on to get the decision by the scores of 114-114, 116-113 and 116-112. The thing about that fight was that Povetkin already looked completely gassed out after the 3rd round and got much worse as the fight wore on. Povetkin looked to be at least 10 to 15 pounds overweight and the extra weight really slowed him down and hurt his stamina in a big way.

It’s hard to see what the WBA saw in Rahman to push up to a number #1 ranking in the division. It couldn’t be because of any of Rahman’s recent wins because he’s fought only B level opposition since losing by a 7th round TKO to IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in December 2008. Rahman hasn’t been in to taking any chance of him losing by focusing on just the 2nd tier fighters, beating Shannon Miller, Damon Reed, Marcus McGee and Galen Brown. Rahman is probably going to be out of his class against Povetkin in this fight. A prime Rahman would likely defeat Povetkin, but not the near 40 version of Rahman we’ve seen lately. He’s heavier than ever was before and much slower. In his last fight against Galen Brown last June, Rahman weighed 284 pounds, easily a career high for him. He won the fight by a 6th round TKO, but it was disappointing to see how much weight Rahman has put on.