IBF heavyweight mandatory and former Olympic Gold medalist Alexander Povetkin(16-0, 12 KOs), who was scheduled to face current WBO/IBF/IBO heavyweight champion Wladimir "Steelhammer" Klitschko(51-3, 45 KOs) on December 13th, 2008, has canceled his fight date with Klitschko after suffering an injury to his left foot after tripping over a tree root while doing roadwork. While the official diagnosis won't be in until Monday, an MRI by Dr. Sergey Aschipov showed a partially torn ligament in his left foot, and the injury is bad enough that he wouldn't be able to start training again until the end of November. Alex and his team feel that's not good enough for him to put on the best performance against Klitschko.
Povetkin received his mandatory status to face Klitschko after winning a 4 person IBF heavyweight tournament, where he held wins over Chris Byrd and Eddie Chambers.
Wladimir Klitschko intends to keep his original December 13th date and fight against someone else, but Povetkin's team hopes that their fight will proceed sometime in early 2009.
Chris Meyer Quotes
*Mr. Meyer is the Event CEO for Sauerland
"Alexander is extremely disappointed, as are myself and Kalle Sauerland. We will release additional information on Povetkin's condition as soon as it becomes available but we expect Povetkin will be fully recovered and able to fight Klitschko in early 2009."
Shelly Finkel Quotes
*Mr. Finkel is Wladimir Klitschko's Adviser
"Wladimir is going to fight. We'll go down the rankings and try to find a suitable replacement. We'll explore all of our options."
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