By Jason Kim: Unbeaten heavyweight contender Alexander Ustinov (26-0, 20 KO’s) will be mixing it up with journeyman Jason Gavern (21-9-4, 10 KO’s) on April 26th in a fight for the vacant IBO Inter-Continental title at the Sportpalace in Kharkov, Ukraine. Ustinov, #3 WBA, #5 WBO, #12 IBF, is hoping to pick up this lower belt and then move to a title shot.

It’s slow going for the 35-year-old Ustinov as it seems like he’s been hanging around for years without getting one title shot, while relative upstarts to the world rankings like Dereck Chisora is given a quick world title shot. Ustinov has to keep working to get an eventual shot against one of the three world champions. At 35, Ustinov is getting up there in age and will be turning 36 at the end of the year in December. Hopefully, Ustinov gets a title shot before he turns 40. It’s a very real possibility that he could hang around for at least that long before he finally gets to fight one of the champions.

At 6’7″ 300 pounds, Ustinov is huge and hard to beat because of his size. I don’t rate him in the same class as heavyweight contenders Tyson Fury, David Price and Robert Helenius, because he doesn’t punch as hard as those guys. Ustinov also doesn’t move well around the ring and it’s difficult imagine him laboring when he eventually faces a contender with a high punch volume and a good chin. He’s hard to beat against stationary fighters but against someone with big power and/or mobility, Ustinov may struggle.

Gavern, 34, has lost two out of his last three fights to Franklin Lawrence and Mariusz Wach. Gavern is a decent fighter, but not very tall at 6’2″. and not a big puncher. Gavern has a few decent wins under his belt with victories over Cisse Salif, Darnell Wilson and Manuel Quezada. Two years ago, Gavern fought Johnathon Banks to a 12 round draw in what has to be the most important fight of his career.

Ustinov should be able to win this fight, but it might go the full 12 rounds, because Gavern can take a good shot from his opponents.