Povetkin vs. Chagaev

It looks likely to happen next month in Germany:

The Klitchkos will own the undisputed heavyweight titles of the universe until August 27 when Ruslan Chagaev will face Alexander for the WBA’s “regularâ€￾ heavyweight title at a site to be named in Germany. It appears that Povetkin will not be trained by Teddy Atlas for that fight, as Povetkin wants to train in Europe and Atlas has commitments to work ESPN2 boxing telecasts during that period. Klitschko will be the WBA heavyweight “superâ€￾ champion.

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http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/chagaev-povetkin-for-wba-belt-89283

Yes, this fight is for the "regular" version of the WBA title, as Wladimir Klitschko has been appointed WBA "Super" champion following his unification win over David Haye.

Thus, Chagaev and Povetkin fight will determine the WBA "regular" title.

This is great news because both Povetkin and Chagaev are white, so regardless, when this fight happens we will have another white champion at heavyweight. That's great news and simply furthers European dominance in the higher weight classes.

Whoever wins the fight (Povetkin/Chagaev) will probably emerge as a likely candidate for Wladimir's future opponents. Of course, Wlad has already TKO'd Chagaev back in 2009.

Povetkin VS Chagaev is an interesting matchup. It seems that both guys were fighting at their best several years ago. Chagaev, in my opinion, has slipped a bit since the Klitschko loss, and Povetkin has strangely regressed in skill level following his working with trainer Teddy Atlas.

I'd say its close to a 50-50 fight, Id favour Povetkin but only slightly.

Great fight, I believe Povetkin should win this one.....

Really the "champion" is a glorified number 1 contender. I don't like it at all as the casual fan gets confused by this. It is probably better for the individual fighters as they will probably get bigger purses for a "world title fight" rather than a box-off.

Povetkin should win this fight as he's probably the 3rd best HW behind the Klits right now. He needs to fire atlas and get a real trainer.

I truly believed that Povetkin was the third best heavyweight but I'm not sure anymore. The third best heavyweight right now is Adamek. Povetkin has come into his last few fights a bit out of shape and he hasn't fought very well.

whiteathlete33 said:

I truly believed that Povetkin was the third best heavyweight but I'm not sure anymore. The third best heavyweight right now is Adamek. Povetkin has come into his last few fights a bit out of shape and he hasn't fought very well.

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Agree 100%

Povetkin's case is a bizarre one. Had tremendous amateur success, good early pro success (TKO'd Chris Byrd, UD Eddie Chambers), then seemed to regress as a fighter.

While I do put a lot of the blame for Povetkin's regressing with his half Jewish trainer Teddy Atlas, part of the blame also lies with Povetkin himself.

I do feel Povetkin's best days are behind him. He needs to resurrect his career in a salvage.

Although I favour Povetkin to win the fight, if he fights as bad as he did in his last fight (W 10 Nicolai Firtha) he could very well lose to Ruslan Chagaev.

Povetkin's case is just bizarre and his entire skill regimen has gone noticeably downhill, even though he has never lost a fight.

The style he has is prone to burnout. He eats fighters power shots to land his own. He isn't that young anymore too, so I wouldn't be surprised if Sasha was upset. I have always underestimated the roly poly Chagaev, but Chagaev has always been able to outbox bigger stronger foes not named Klitschko.