Fury vs. Povetkin a done deal for Aug.31

By Boxing News - 07/31/2019 - Comments

Image: Fury vs. Povetkin a done deal for Aug.31

By Tim Royner:  Former heavyweight world champion Alexander Povetkin will be taking on the still green local lad Hughie Fury next month in a 12 round fight on the undercard of Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Luke Campbell at the O2 in London, England. The fight cad will be shown on Sky Sports Box Office in the United Kingdom.  Hughie (23-2, 13 KOs) and his team are gambling big in taking on the more experienced Povetkin.

Hughie’s new promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing gave him a list of seven heavyweights to choose from for his August 31 fight, and he and his father Peter Fury selected the 39-year-old Povetkin (34-2, 24 KOs). They see former WBA world champion Povetkin as giving them the biggest upside if they’re able to win. Povetkin has mixed up at the world level since he turned pro in 2005, and he’s got a remarkable resume.

Hearn: If Hughie beats Povetkin, it’ll lead to huge fights

“There’s a huge risk in the fight but there is also huge reward and if Hughie can beat Povetkin on August 31 he catapults himself into huge fights and immediate World title contention,” said Hearn. “It’s going to be a great fight on a great card – a huge night for British boxing.”

A victory for the 24-year-old Hughie would lead to a big fight, but not necessarily to more than one. That would depend obviously on how Hughie performs. When Hughie has been stepped up in class against world class heavyweights Joseph Parker and Kubrat Pulev, he’s lost decisively. Two of the judges had Parker beating Hughie by a 10 rounds to 2 scores in their fight in 2017.

Giving Hughie even two rounds in that fight was a case of the judges being kind to him. The way Hughie fought Parker, he arguably deserved to win none of the rounds. He spent the entire fight moving and holding Parker, and looking to spoil. In Hughie’s recent one-sided 12 round unanimous decision defeat to Pulev, he lost by the scores 117-111, 118-110 and 115-113. Boxing News 24 had Pulev winning by a 119-109 score. In other words, Pulev won 11 rounds to 1. Hughie looked like he didn’t belong in the same ring with the 6’4 1/2″ Pulev in that fight.

Hughie Fury confident of victory over Povetkin

“It’s a very serious fight but I’m confident of getting the win on the night,” said Hughie. “Povetkin is a completely different level to my last fight and I believe his style will compliment mine.”

Some fans feel that Matchroom promoter Hearn is feeding Hughie to the lions by putting him in with Povetkin straightaway. Hughie just signed with Matchroom last week, and he’s already being matched against Povetkin. However, it wasn’t Hearn that selected Povetkin for Hughie to fight. He and his father Peter Fury picked out Povetkin, and they’re the ones that see this as a winnable fight.

Povetkin has loads of experience against these big names:

  • Wladimir Klitschko
  • Chris Byrd
  • Anthony Joshua
  • Mike Perez
  • Carlos Takam
  • Marco Huck
  • Ruslan Chagaev
  • Eddie Chambers
  • Manuel Char