17.09.06 – By Izyaslav “Slava” Koza: On September 23rd in Germany Alexander Povetkin will climb into the ring to face one time contender Ed Mahone. While some fans voiced displeasure at the choice of opponent for this bout, I feel it is a matter of them being spoiled by the Ahunanya and Bango fights. For a fighter with less then 10 fights, Alexander and his team have progressed very well considering that Ahunanya and Bango were fighters who had faced two of the current titleholders and held their own.
Mahone, for his part, while mostly overmatched had faced former title holder Vitali Klitschko, China Smith, David Bostice, Tye Fields, Henry Akinwande and most recently Eddie Chambers. While he lost almost all of those fights notice that those guys had fought Mahone after about 30 or so professional fights and many years in the pro ranks. For Povetkin to be taking on an opponent with all wins coming via KO, and having faced some stellar experienced competition although in a losing effort is remarkable, more so since Povetkin is doing it with only eight pro fights under his belt.
With that out of the way the following is a brief summary of Povetkin’s public media workout held in Chekhov, Russia. The summary was compiled by Sergei Lozovsky and passed along to us by Alexander’s team.
“Yesterday in the town of Checkov, in the Moscow suburbs, journalists and members of the media were able to view an open training session of the 2004 Olympic champion in the Heavyweight division Alexander Povetkin. Povetkin is currently preparing for his ninth professional bout in Germany on September 23rd. Everybody interested in Alexander’s development, had the opportunity to see him work the bag, pads, as well as spar, and answer questions directed to him or his trainer Valery Belov, manager Wlad Hrunov, and even the trainer of the Russian amateur team Alexander Lebzyak.
The most important part of the workout was the controlled sparring session against former Cruiserweight champ Al Cole, who is helping Povetkin prepare for the upcoming bout against American Ed Mahone. Alexander controlled the action throughout, and determined the tempo at which the bout progressed. Without much difficulty, he was able to stalk his opponent flat-footed cutting off the ring, and forcing him to the ropes. When Cole found himself in some difficulty, Alexander, out of respect for the age of the former champ, didn’t attempt to bomb him out, rather showing he did enough to win the stanza, and letting observers know that in a real bout the approach would be different.
Throughout the entire eight round period, Alexander only let his right hand go three or four times. In general Povetkin worked his jab, at times doubling and even tripling up with it. Besides the jab, he also applied the left hook, both when coming in to attack, and to top off combos. In a few of the rounds Alexander also worked on his inside, and middle distance tactics, possibly preparing for a tight and dirty inside battle with many clinches coming from Mahone. All the while Al Cole, obviously unable to work with the same speed as in his prime, as well as giving away the size advantage, was able to hang in there primarily using his advantage of wealth of experience against the young Russian.
As Povetkin later confirmed, throughout the controlled session he did not try to put that much on his punches, in order to protect his hands. He stated he felt good physically and psychologically, which was something his trainer Valery Belov also confirmed. Belov also stated they had prepared for the bout in the usual manner and were able to avoid any unpleasant moments, including avoiding any injuries.
On September 17th, Alexander Povetkin and his team will travel to Germany, where he will have a couple of more light sparring sessions, including a few against Nikolai Valuev, and plans to get into the ring in the best possible physical shape. The fight can be viewed live on Ren-TV. Fans and Journalists in Russia, where Alexander plans to continue training in the future, wish him luck in the upcoming fight, as well as realizing his dream of becoming the heavyweight champion of the world.”
Hopefully, we can see Alexander fighting on an undercard either on HBO or Showtime in the near future. ESB also wishes Alexander luck and success on the 23rd of September.