Since IBF mandatory heavyweight Alexander Povetkin has withdrawn from his showdown on December 13th with current WBO/IBF/IBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, Wlad now has an opportunity and desire to face someone else on this date. The question is who would make a good opponent for Wladimir?
Potential Fighters
There are older fighters like James Toney, Hasim Rahman, who are available and have no prior obligations, but other than namesake I don't see these fights presenting much of a challenge for Wladimir. The money aspect might be good though for either in Germany and would get a name many have heard on his record. But, from a fans perspective I would much rather see something else.
Nicolai Valuev?
Nicolai Valuev, who is the new WBA heavyweight champion, is looking for an opponent to stay busy before his mandatory obligation to face Chagaev in the middle of next year. So, this could be a great match. It would be different stylistically for Wladimir since the Russian Nicolai stands over 7 feet tall and Wladimir for once would be the much shorter fighter. It would also be a unification bout and would still retain the interest as the Povetkin match-up had with a Russian fighter against of Ukrainian fighter. A couple things stand in the way from this fight happening.
1st their's the time element with negotiations maybe not happening because it would be too late.
Secondly Wladimir's brother Vitali, who just got back his WBC heavyweight title, has expressed interest in the 2nd belt for himself.
Finally, Wladimir may not want to have to adjust his training which he's involved in already to face someone who has physical characteristics/style so much different than Povetkin. This would require a whole new mindset for training, and training partners, etc, and would have meant a lot of the training he has done would have been wasted. So, although this in my opinion would be the best match out there for Wladimir, I don't think its realistically going to happen.
Who Else?
So who's left? Well he could face the guy who barely lost to Povetkin: Eddie Chambers. Again fan interest would probably not favor this one.
Of course David Haye has been calling out Wladimir and might be able to drop his upcoming fight to face Wladimir, but the agreement was for him to face an opponent or 2 to prove himself which he hasn't done yet, so I doubt that one will fall through.
What's the best way to determine the new fighter?
Maybe the best route to take is for Wladimir to pre-select 5 or 10 potential fighters that have no prior obligations, and let the fans vote on who they want to see him face. This way at least nobody can say that he didn't choose a fighter that the majority didn't want to see him face.
Who Do I think the best opponent would be?
I personally think he should face someone in similar stature to Povetkin with a decent ranking and record. My personal choice would be Oleg Maskaev. He is around the same stature as Povetkin, has a name in boxing, was a former champion who beat Hasim Rahman twice, and is a Russian fighter like Povetkin so the Russian-Ukranian match-up would remain in tact as well as the popularity of the fight. Also the fight negotiations would most likely go smoothly since Oleg is not in a position to wait much longer at his age and would welcome 1 last title shot and big money bout. What do you think? What fighters do you think would be ideal for Wladimir?
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