23.04.06 – By Lee Hayes: Alexander Povetkin is probably the best prospect to ever come out of Russia and in to the ranks of professional boxing. From his outstanding amateur career of 125-3 to his gold medal in the 2004 Summer games in Athens in the Super Heavyweight division. Everything seems set for Povetkin to become a very successful pro.
At the age of 26, he’s come along at just the right time to turn up the heat on the plus 200 pounders and his team has been moving him at a very fast pace. It hasn’t been the norm for Eastern European heavyweight to take a fast route to the top, in fact the usual method is to develop a massive undefeated record against less than journeyman quality opponents. Cheers to Povetkin for refusing to fall in to such unproductive tactics. What’s not to like about this guy? He even avenged his three amateur losses and beat those opponents. That’s rare now a days, it seems.
On Saturday, April 22nd, Alexander faced off against Friday Ahunanya on the under card of the Chris Byrd vs Wladimir Klitschko II fight card. Friday had been touted as a possible top prospect early in his career, and had impressed many people that had seen him fight. That all changed when he ran in to an undefeated, but unheralded young fighter by the name of Serguei Liakhovich, who defeated Friday soundly. Since then, Ahunanya had toiled for success and found only mixed results. He seemed just good enough to try his opponents, but never sensational enough to get a solid win. Still, his experience was good and to put an undefeated prospect with only six professional wins under his belt took a lot of courage, and if anything shows exactly what Povetkin and his camp think he is capable of. If they keep raising the level of his opposition at this rate, he could be ready for a title fight within two years. It’s far too early to tell how he will do, but all indications are that he’s the current leader of the very young heavyweights on the horizon.
Povetkin fights in a way that is far more similar to “Smokin” Joe Frazier or Ray Mercer than any other European fighter I’ve ever seen. Usually, European fighters are known for fighting in a very stand up, “robotic” style and Alex does anything but. He moves his head side to side and seems apt at throwing the left and right hand whenever needed. He throws his punches in combination, and like any good plodder, he doesn’t neglect the body. His left hook seems to be his bread and butter punch, and that suits his style just fine. At 6’2 and consistently around 219lbs, he’s a legitimate heavyweight that will probably round off at about a solid 230lbs by the time he’s fully developed his body. His legs still seems a little thin, and it probably wouldn’t hurt for him to put more time in to strengthening them for balance. His hand speed is above average, maybe even a little better. Alexander also uses his jab, which is often neglected by plodder type fighters. They usually use it more as a parrying tool and Povetkin seems to throw it with a little more intention. His chin also seems solid, and when he gets hit, he doesn’t panic. He stands and trades or moves his head out of the way of danger. It’s a refreshing sight to see a large man that knows how to avoid punches as well as throw them.
The fight with Ahunanya was in a phone booth. Friday used his experience and physical strength to try stand and trade with the young prospect from Tschechow. His build and style was similar to Alexanders, however it was clear that Povetkin was just a little better in every category, and over all a much more complete boxer. Still, Friday showed to be an excellent test of the chin, stamina and guts of Alex, and the experience will only help him down the road. They fought back and forth, taking each others best shots and coming back for more. I only wished that it was a ten round fight, because it seemed that Alexander could have gone twelve, and Friday was starting to tire. There almost surely would have been a stoppage. Instead, the result was a very hard fought and earned unanimous decision in six rounds of action.
Ahunanya isn’t even the first good challenge Povetkin has faced in his now seven fight career. In his last outing he beat up on Richard Bango, who is no Lennox Lewis, but a fair fighter and another surprise to be used as an opponent for someone with such little experience. This is the same Bango that Nikolay Valuev was fighting only a couple of years ago. Valuev had faced 36 professionals before his team felt he was ready to tangle with Richard. Povetkin’s felt comfortable after only five. The result for the 7 foot giant Russian was a TKO in five. For Povetkin, the exclamation for the fight was a perfect left hook that had followed up a combination, putting Bango to sleep in only two rounds. Since they are both managed by the same person, it seems clear whom he thinks is the better prospect. Rightfully so.
Let us all hope that Povetkin’s team continues to progress him at the same rate, because the heavyweight division can always use a new Joe Frazier style fighter. It’s exciting and the knock outs bring a lot of attention to the sport. If however, they should decide to stagnate his career, looking to over pad it with meaningless wins, we may be asking ourselves “what if” instead of saying “how great!”.
I for one will be watching with an interested eye.
This writer welcomes your productive comments/suggestions: