WBC #1 world ranked Alexander Povetkin (29-1, 21 KOs) impressively stopped world ranked Mike Perez (21-2-1, 13 KOs) in less than one round this past Friday. It was an impressive display of explosive offense by Povetkin doing what no one has done to Perez. He stopped him inside the distance. Povetkin was a decisive favorite coming in to the fight but few publicly predicted he would beat Perez this convincingly or quickly. The bout was a WBC world title eliminator with the winner becoming the mandatory challenger. The current WBC heavyweight champion is unbeaten Deontay Wilder (33-0, 32 KOs) who has an upcoming voluntary defense against Eric Molina (23-2, 17 KOs) in Wilder’s native Alabama next month. The WBC will wait until the completion of the Wilder-Molina fight before announcing anything regarding ordering any sides to reach an agreement or purse bid.
Povetkin is fighting like a man on a mission since his loss to Wladimir Klitschko in October 2013. His opposition since that fight has had a combined record of (77-3-2). He has stopped each of those fighters inside the distance. Two of those fighters had never been stopped prior. Povetkin would be Wilder’s toughest fight to date. He could have a much more difficult time trying to outbox the former olympic gold medalist Povetkin the way he did former champ Bermaine Stiverne. Povetkin’s chin was clearly tested vs Klitschko where he was dropped 5 times. Povetkin showed his heart as he not only got up but fought back hard. Klitschko was just the superior overall fighter and he proved it that night. Wilder could be on that level but we just don’t know that yet and still won’t after his fight with what appears to be an overmatched Molina.
Talk on the social media networks immediately turned to how there would be no way that Wilder would go to Russia to defend his title against the local Povetkin. It comes to find out that this may not even be an issue. The Povetkin side has said there would be no issue with them going to the U.S. for the challenge. This surprised some as Povetkin’s wealthy promoter Andrei Ryabinsky set a winning purse bid record of 23 million U.S. dollars to land he fight with Klitschko in Russia in 2013. It is no secret that Wilder’s advisor Al Haymon has serious financial backing behind his Premier Boxing Champions series which he started a few months ago. This doesn’t hurt the cause to land a Povetkin-Wilder the U.S. for sure. It’s good news for boxing fans as an exciting fairly matched world title fight has all the indications that it can be made to happen.
