Weigh-In Results: Povetkin – 101,5 kg (223,7 lbs), Stiverne – 113,1 kg (249,3 lbs)
By Eric Baldwin: Former heavyweight champions Alexander Povetkin (30-1, 22 KOs) and Bermane Stiverne (25-2-1, 21 KOs) will be in the ring this Saturday night on December 17 to fight for the interim WBC heavyweight title at the Ekaterinburg Expo in Ekaterinburg, Russia. The winner of the Povetkin vs. Stiverne fight will face WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder for his title in 2017 at some point.
Stiverne is the visiting fighter in this match, and he might need to get a knockout for him to make sure he walks out of the ring with the WBC interim title in his possession. Stiverne is fortunate that he’s a big puncher, because he at least has the option of potentially scoring a knockout in this fight.
It’s going to be tough though for Stiverne to KO the 37-year-old Povetkin, who has never been stopped in his 11-year pro career. Povetkin has only lost once in getting beaten by Wladimir Klitschko three years ago by a 12 round unanimous decision. Povetkin was knocked down three times in that fight. He might have been stopped if Wladimir had shown a little more willingness to engage instead of constantly clinching and leaning on Povetkin.
Povetkin has been in with some big punchers before like Mike Perez, Carlos Takam, Mariusz Wach, Hasim Rahman, Marco Huck, Manuel Charr and Ruslan Chagaev. The bad news is many of those fights took place in the past. Povetkin is nearing 40 now, and he’s coming off of a long 13-month layoff from the ring since his last fight against Wach in November 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPAGXhMfiII
Povetkin’s last really tough opponent was Carlos Takam in October 2014. Povetkin stopped him in the 10th round. That was over two years ago, and it’s not likely that Povetkin still has his boxing skills at the same level they were at back then.
Stiverne’s trainer Don House said this to RingTV.com about the Povetkin fight:
“He will win and win big,” said House about Stiverne. “He’s a better fighter than his opponent and we didn’t travel this far to lose. We know we can’t go the distance and win. We know how this game works.”
It’s good that House knows what Stiverne is up against here in traveling to Povetkin’s backyard to take the fight. You always hope that the judges will get the decision right by doing a good job of scoring the fights, but quite frequently the visiting fighter seems to get the short end of the sick in boxing matches.
Stiverne, 6’2”, is going to be using his powerful jab and huge left hook to try and make sure the judges play no part in the outcome of this fight. Stiverne might be able to get a knockout in this fight if he’s able to get Povetkin to punch with him. Povetkin will be giving up two inches in reach to Stiverne. That’s a big advantage for Stiverne, because ht ends to do really well against guys that he has the reach advantage over.
The one fight where Stiverne really struggled in the last seven years of his career was against the much taller 6’7” Deontay Wilder last year in January 2015 Wilder used his five-inch height and six-inch reach advantage over Stiverne to pound out a 12 round decision. Wilder jabbed frequently and stayed on the move for 12 rounds to prevent Stiverne from getting close enough to land one of his big left hooks that he likes to throw.
It was a tougher fight for Wilder than the judges’ scores showed, as Stiverne never stopped coming forward for an instant, and he forced Wilder to move in order to keep from getting knocked out. Stiverne won the fight by the scores 118-109, 119-109 and 120-107.
Povetkin has problems with the punching power of Wladimir Klitschko. That’s something that Stiverne could take advantage of, because he’s a respectable puncher in his own right. Stiverne hasn’t been that active though since his loss to Wilder, but he still can punch even if he’s not sharp. If Stiverne can land his big power shots to the chin of Povetkin, he could end him down just like Wladimir did. Stiverne is more dangerous than Wladimir when he gets a guy hurt. Stiverne isn’t afraid to go after his opponents because he’s got a good chin, and he can take desperation shots from hurt opponents if need be.
Povetkin will likely try and work angles with his punches to score a knockout. He likes to angle his body to get the maximum power on his power shots. He also likes to throw big power shots in close. That’s how Povetkin knocked out Mike Perez. He was in close and Perez wasn’t expecting him to hit him with a big shot.
Stiverne likely will have studied Povetkin’s past fights and will be ready for the different tricks that he has in his punch arsenal.
Stiverne’s weight will be key for this fight. If he comes in heavy like he did in his last fight against Derric Rossy last year in November 2015, then it could be a hard for fight Stiverne to win. Stiverne seems to be at his best when he’s around 239lbs for his fights. Stiverne weighed 254 ½lbs for his fight against Rossy last year.
Rossy surprisingly dropped Stiverne with a big punch in the 1st round. Stiverne got up off the deck and fought well for the remainder of the fight in winning a 10 round unanimous decision It wasn’t a good sign that a journeyman like Rossy was able to drop Stiverne, because that’s a guy that would likely have no chance against Povetkin. Rossy isn’t going to drop Povetkin, because his chin is too good and he’s not going to get careless with anyone.
Wilder has been out of the ring since earlier this year with a torn right bicep and broken hand. Both of those injuries have been operated on, and Wilder is now seen as fully healed. Wilder should be back in the ring soon against either the winner of the Povetkin vs. Stiverne or one of the contenders.
Povetkin has the advantage in this fight in the boxing skills and the better experience against superior fighters. However, Stiverne has a great equalizer in his punching power and reach. This fight could come down to who can take the other fighter’s power better. Stiverne took Wilder’s big shots all night long without going down. It’s doubtful that Povetkin would have stayed on his first with the heavy shots Wilder was landing in the Stiverne fight.