By Allan Fox: WBA World heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (24-0, 16 KO’s) is now being trained by former IBF/WBA/WBC/Ring light welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu for Povetkin’s third title defense of his belt against former WBC heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman (50-7-2, 41 KO’s) on September 29th at the Sporthalle, Alsterdorf, in Hamburg, Germany.

Povetkin, who will be turning 33 on September 2nd, is hoping that Tszyu will be able to help him with his stamina problems so that he doesn’t gas out like he usually does when he fights.

Povetkin said “I have already improved my stamina while training under his supervision.”

I wish it were so, but I have a feeling that Povetkin’s lack of stamina is something that he’s going to have to live with, because he’s always been a fighter that has gasped for breath in between rounds, and looked winded at times. Povetkin never had good stamina to begin with early in his career, but now that he’s about to turn 33, he’s really gotten especially bad.

Tszyu might be able to help improve Povetkin’s stamina a little bit but I’m not expecting huge changes in that area because Povetkin has always come into his fights in tip top shape, and like I said earlier, Povetkin didn’t even have great conditioning even when he was younger. He’s now getting up there in age and I don’t expect his conditioning to have improved any.

It really may not matter, however, because Rahman is about to turn 40-years-old in November, and he hasn’t had a serious fight in four years since being blown out by IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in the 7th round. Rahman hasn’t beaten a good opponent in 11 years when Rahman upset Lennox Lewis in a 5th round stoppage in April 2001. Since then, Rahman’s biggest win has come against Monte Barrett, who I never really considered to be a really good fighter.