By Jim Dower: Alexander Povetkin (32-1, 23 KOs) will be giving away almost 34 pounds when he faces Christian Hammer (22-4, 12 KOs) this Friday night in their WBA heavyweight title eliminator at the DIVS in Ekaterinburg, Russia.
The 38-year-old former WBA heavyweight champion Povetkin weighed in at 222.8 pounds on Thursday at the weigh-in. Hammer, 30, weighed in at 256.3 lbs. The weight for the Romanian born German based Hammer is close to his normal weights. Hammer is usually in the 250 lb. region for his fights.
We’ll have to see how the weight advantage helps Hammer. He’s done well in the past when he’s outweighed his opponents by close to 30 pounds. It’s possible Hammer’s size could lead him to victory over the 222-pound Povetkin.
Povetkin is the favorite to win this fight, even though he’s 8 years older than Hammer. Povetkin hasn’t shown any signs of aging as of yet, but you never know when a fighter can start losing it. In Povetkin’s last fight, he defeated Andriy Rudenko by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision on July 1 in Moscow, Russia. Povetkin won by the scores 120-108, 120-109 and 120-108. It looked like Povetkin wasn’t pushing to get Rudenko out of there.
Povetkin fought at a leisurely pace most of the fight. Only a few times in the fight Povetkin stepped on the canvas. When he did, he had Rudenko in trouble, but he didn’t look to finish him off for some reason. Rudenko has a good chin, and he’d never been knocked out in the past. That might explain why Povetkin didn’t go for the knockout the way someone else like Deontay Wilder would have.
Hammer will have his WBO International title on the line for the fight. Povetkin will have his WBA Intercontinental/heavyweight title up for grabs. More important than those titles is the fact that the fight is a title eliminator for a shot at a world title against IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. There’s a lot of money for Hammer and Povetkin to make facing the highly popular Joshua in the future.
Hammer is in a great position to lock himself in as the mandatory for Joshua to give himself a career high payday. All he needs to do is get past the 38-year-old Povetkin to accomplish his goal. Hammer came close to getting knocked out earlier this year in his fight against David Price. Hammer was dropped in round 5 of that fight. Price gassed out after knocking Hammer down. Hammer then gook over the fight and stopped Price in the 7th. If Hammer gets hurt by Povetkin, he’s not likely to turn things around to get the win. Povetkin is a great finisher. If he has Hammer hurt, he’s going to knock him out.
