By Jim Dower: A pair of unbeaten European heavyweights will square off on Saturday night in an IBF heavyweight title eliminator bout for the #1 spot between unbeaten Alexander Ustinov (27-0, 21 KO’s) and ex-Olympian from the 2008 Olympics Kubrat Pulev (16-0, 8 KO’s) at the Sporthalle, Alsterdorf, in Hamburg, Germany. The Pulev-Ustinov fight will be the co-main event on the undercard of the heavyweight clash between WBA World heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin vs. Hasim Rahman. Also on the card will be light middleweight Jack Culcay facing Mark Thompson.

The Pulev-Ustinov fight seems to have the most potential for an interesting fight on the card, because these two giant heavyweights are pretty well matched. The 6’7″ 300 lb Ustinov has looked very good since turning pro in 2005. Ustinov has beaten the likes of Monte Barrett, Paola Vidoz, Denis Bakhtov, Kertson Manswell and Jason Gavern. Ustinov fights a lot like WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, only he’s a little slower than Vitali, heavier and he doesn’t have the same big right hand that Vitali possesses. However, Ustinov punches plenty hard and tends to bludgeon his opponents into submission in the same manner that Vitali does. Ustinov has knocked out five out of his last six opponents he’s faced dating back to October 2010.

Pulev, the EBU and IBF International heavyweight champion, has wins over Travis Walker, Michael Sprott, Alexander Dimitrenko, Derric Rossey, Maksysm Pedyura, Dominick Guinn, Paolo Vidoz and Yaroslav Zavorotnyi. Pulev, 6’4″, is very good and has to be considered the favorite in Saturday’s fight with Ustinov. He’s quicker with better power, a better jab and better stamina. That should be enough for Pulev to get the win.

In the Povetkin-Rahman fight, Povetkin, 32, is getting Rahman at the fight time now that he’s almost 40-years-old. Rahman hasn’t faced a quality fighter for the four years since he fought and lost to Wladimir Klitschko, and he’s been taking it easy against lesser opposition lately. Rahman is still winning but his weight has been high in many of those fights. Rahman is expected to be in the upper 240s for the Povetkin fight on Saturday. It’ll be interesting to see if this will help him win. Povetkin is the much more active heavyweight and he’ll likely try to set a fast pace that Rahman can’t keep up with.