IBF Heavyweight Mandatory For Wladimir Klitschko

This is pretty much old news by now, but for those who aren't up to date, I figured this would be a nice addition to this blog.

The IBF organization held a mini tournament to see who was the next mandatory for Wladimir Klitschko. In the 1st round Chris Byrd lost by TKO to Alexander Povetkin & Eddie Chambers won a decision over Calvin Brock. In the final, Povetkin won a unanimous decision over Chambers and is now the IBF mandatory. Since Tony Thompson has been waiting awhile for his title shot for the WBO organization, the WBO fight should be happening 1st. But, sometime this summer we should also see these Povetkin & Klitschko clash.

Povetkin has a solid amateur background. He started off with a successful kickboxing amateur career then switched to boxing. He ended up with a boxing record of 125-7, with all losses avenged. No easy task. He also won the Gold for Russia in the 2004 Athens Olympics in the Super Heavyweight division.

As a professional Povetkin is undefeated at 15 wins with 11 of those by way of KO. He's 28 years old, 6'2" tall, and weighed around 227 lbs in his last fight.

I watched him fight on video a few times and he does have a good offensive arsenal, but not a very good defense. He does seem to have a good chin, although I don't believe anyone with Wladimir's power has tested it. He's an orthodox boxer, and although he won the Super Heavyweight amateur gold, he just doesn't look that big. At 227 lbs, his highest weight yet as a professional, he looked like he could lose about 15 to 20 pounds if he wanted to have the same physical appearance that Wladimir does. I say this physical difference is going to make the difference in the fight with Wladimir with the victor being Wladimir by TKO stoppage. I say TKO, because Povetkin will want to win, rarely loses, and will fight on past the point most fighters would have stayed down.

Good luck to Wladimir on this mandatory and his WBO one.

For more about Povetkin's Bio you can go to wikepedia.....