By Allan Fox: WBA heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (26-0, 18 KO’s) will have famous trainer Freddie Roach in his corner when he faces IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (60-3, 51 KO’s) in their fight on October 5th, according to Steve Kim.
Povetkin has had a number of trainers in the past couple of years, and it looks like Roach will be the new guy at least for this fight. Whether Roach remains as Povetkin’s trainer will likely depend on how well Povetkin performs against Wladimir. With Povetkin getting dominated and stopped, which is a likely scenario, could result in Roach moving on.
Roach is going to have to come up with the mother of all fight plans for Povetkin to win because he’s simply too small, slow, weak and inexperienced to beat a guy like Wladimir. Povetkin is a good heavyweight, but he’s probably not even as good as David Haye or Tyson Fury. We saw how easily Wladimir defeated Haye two years ago in 2011.
Roach will need to work on Povetkin’s conditioning to get him to the level where he can fight hard for the full 12 rounds so that he can tire Wladimir out. Roach has said in the past that Wladimir is vulnerable to pressure, and that’s likely the plan of attack that Roach will have for Povetkin in this fight.
There’s a drawback to this kind of scheme, and that’s Povetkin could walk into a shot while desperately attacking. Wladimir has a good left hook and right hand, and if he catches Povetkin coming forward, he could end up stopping him with a single shot to the head.
Wladimir and Povetkin will be fighting at the Olimpiyskiy, in Moscow, Russia. The Olimpiyskiy has a seating capacity of 83,000, but it’s difficult to imagine the two fighters bringing in anywhere close to that number in Russia. However, it’s possible but difficult to predict because Wladimir hasn’t been fighting in Russia.
Wladimir’s been fighting in Germany most of the time, in front of huge crowds of 50,000+. A bout between Wladimir and Povetkin would easily draw 50,000 in Germany. The same fight would be lucky to draw 5,000 if it took place in the United States,
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