By Scott Gilfoid: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder (36-0, 35 KOs) made it crystal clear on Wednesday that he plans on giving 36-year-old mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin (30-1, 22 KOs) a methodical beating on May 21 so that the judges can’t help but to know who the winner of the fight is in case it goes to the cards.
Deontay doesn’t plan on letting the fight go to the cards, as he wants to make Povetkin his 36th knockout victim. Thus far, only one fighter, Bermane Stiverne, has been able to go the full 12 round distance with Wilder.
You can argue that the only reason Stiverne made it the full 12 rounds was because Deontay suffered a fractured right hand in the four rounds of their fight last year. Without the injury, Deontay would have made it very tough on Stiverne.
“This is the heavyweight division, and how I got my name with boxing and to the public is with knockouts,” said Deontay during today’s conference call. “So I’m always thinking, and always looking for a knockout no matter what. This is the heavyweight division. This is what the people are coming to see. That’s why I’m the most exciting heavyweight today. People know that ‘When I go to a Deontay Wilder fight, I’m standing on the edge of my seat because the knockout is going to come,” said Deontay.
Wilder and Povetkin will be fighting each other on 5/21 at the Khodnyka Ice Palace in Moscow, Russia. The Russian Povetkin has the home advantage for this fight. Whether it helps him or not is debatable. Povetkin has typically done well when fighting in Russia against visiting fighters. However, that doesn’t mean he’s going to win this fight because he’s facing a super heavyweight in the 6’7” Deontay. Povetkin is a little fighter at just 6’2”, with a limited reach, and not much in terms of mobility.
Povetkin was easily beaten by the 6’6” Wladimir Klitschko in their fight in 2014. Povetkin also struggled in his last fight against the 6’8” Mariusz Wach last November before stopping him in the 12th round. Wach doesn’t have the hand speed, punching power or the mobility that Deontay has going for him. It stands to reason that if Povetkin couldn’t dominate a limited fighter like Wach, then he’s going to be out of his class against the more athletic Deontay.
I think Deontay has a much better chance of getting Povetkin out of there early in this fight than he did in his last fight against the constantly moving Artur Szpilka last January. Szpilka was moving around and making it difficult for Deontay to land his shots.
Deontay finally landed a right hand shot right on the button in nailing Szpilka with a hard right hand in the 9th round that knocked him clean out. Szpilka had to then be taken out of the ring on a stretcher.
“We don’t know when it’s coming’, but it’s coming,” said Wilder. “Sometimes you’re not going to knock everybody out, I understand that, but I’m going to make sure that I abuse him. I’m going to make sure I punish him enough that even if it goes to the scorecards, it ain’t going to be split. It’s going to be unanimous. And we know that that means. Somebody got their [backside] whooped.”
Yeah, I have to agree with Deontay. I think he’s going to whip Povetkin and make it a real bad whipping. Povetkin has a simple come forward type of fighting style that is made to order for Deontay. Unless Povetkin changes his fighting style for the Deontay match, I see Povetkin walking into one of Deontay’s right hand power shots for the knockout. Povetkin would need a complete overhaul to keep from getting knocked out in this fight.
Unfortunately, you know the old saying – ‘Old dogs can’t learn new tricks.’ I think that’s going to be the case with Povetkin. He’s an old timer that is stuck in his ways fighting the most perfect punching machine in the heavyweight division right now. I think it’s going to be bad for Povetkin.
“I’m going to answer the questions people have about me. The best is yet to come for me…it’s going to be exciting while it lasts,” said Deontay.