By Scott Gilfoid: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder (36-0, 35 KOs) thinks the threat from 36-year-old Alexander Povetkin (30-1, 22 KOs) is overrated for their upcoming fight on May 21 in Moscow, Russia.
Wilder feels that Povetkin won’t even be his toughest test of his career. Wilder notes that Bermane Stiverne was another fighter that was supposed to be a big test, but he passed that test with flying colors last year in beating the 6’2” Stiverne with ease.
The thing of it is, Stiverne is a bigger puncher than Povetkin, and the same exact height. You can make a strong argument that Stiverne would KO Povetkin if the two of them ever fought. Povetkin is made to order for Stiverne.
Deontay isn’t worried about fighting in front of Povetkin’s own fans, because he feels he can come to any country and beat the home fighter. The reason for this is obvious. Deontay takes the crowd and the judges out of play by him knocking out the home fighter. As such, the judges wind up playing no role in the fight other than just three fans watching another home fighter can knocked out. That’s the beauty with Deontay. He doesn’t get robbed of victories because he knocks out all his opponents in most cases. The crowd doesn’t bother him because he shuts them out while en route to knocking out his opponents.
“Against Bermane Stiverne they said he was going to be the toughest test but I passed that with flying colors,” said Wilder to skysports.com. “Come the night of the fight, we shall see what sort of Povetkin comes to the ring and what Deontay Wilder brings to that ring. We will see who the last man standing is – and it will be Deontay Wilder, I guarantee.”
It’s hard to disagree with Deontay. He’s a lot younger, bigger, faster and stronger than Povetkin. Wilder is also a much more mobile fighter compared to Povetkin, who moves in a sluggish manner around the ring.
One reason the fans are making a big deal about Povetkin because of his recent string of victories since his one-sided loss to Wladimir Klitschko in 2013. Povetkin has since beaten Manuel Charr, Mike Perez, Mariusz Wach and Carlos Takam. Those victories have some boxing fans thinking that Povetkin can beat Wilder. The thing of it is, Povetkin hasn’t improved since his loss to Wladimir.
The only difference is he’s faced weaker opposition. Takam was easily the best opponent Povetkin has faced in the last two years, and he’s not a great fighter. Far from it. Takam is a decent quality guy, but not someone that is going to beat a champion level fighter. It’s not surprising then that Povetkin beat Takam because it wasn’t a competitive fight on paper, and Povetkin did what many people thought he would do to Takam.
“I can adapt to any environment or any situation I need to, so I am ready to go to Russia. You take what you get or start crying about it but I am re-doing Rocky IV. I am doing the black Rocky,” said Deontay. “I am sure everyone has seen it and I am going to do the same as he did. You’ve all seen it, was a great fight, he took a beating – I won’t be getting one like that – but he came out victorious.”
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