Some pre-fight thoughts ahead of today's heavyweight championship fight:
You know, it's great to see two White, European fighters fighting each other in such a major, history-making, and utterly epic match. This fight is massive. In terms of revenue generated, it is the second biggest fight of the year (behind Mayweather/Alvarez), but in terms of global exposure and audience size it is by far the biggest fight of this year, and probably the biggest fight since Wladimir Klitschko beat David Haye back in July 2011.
Carcharias has noted above that this fight is being broadcast in essentially every single country in the world. The audience scale will be massive, certainly much larger than any fight of this year.
So, this is a huge fight, arguably the biggest fight of the year, certainly one of the top-2 fights of the year, and what's interesting is that it's occurring outside of the USA, involving two non-Americans. The fight involves two White, European boxers and that is totally indicative of the direction the sport of boxing is going in (and has been for the better part of 15 years now)! I'm having flashbacks to Joe Calzaghe VS Mikkel Kessler just thinking about this fight! If you don't know, that was another superfight between White Europeans back in 2007 (in that fight, of course, experience beat youth)!
Now, as for a prediction on today's heavyweight championship fight:
I see a lot of people talking about some sort of "easy win" for Wladimir Klitschko. Hmmm, personally I don't see it, as good as Wladimir is. Alexander Povetkin is a very skilled fighter. We should acknowledge that Povetkin is an Olympic Gold Medalist and one of the best super heavyweight amateurs in recent years (in fact, in terms of strictly amateur results, his record is better than Wladimir's). I followed Povetkin when he initially turned pro back in 2004/2005, and his rise in the pro's has also been impressive. He is undefeated and has recorded his most impressive wins over Ruslan Chagaev (W 12), Eddie Chambers (W 12), and Marco Huck (W 12). Povetkin has also recorded some highlight reel type knockouts in fights with contenders Cedric Boswell (KO 8) and Teke Oruh (KO 5).
Wladimir Klitschko of course has been "the man" at heavyweight since about 2005/2006 now, and in historical terms is probably the most dominant champion we've ever seen at heavyweight in boxing history (more than 100 years). Wladimir has frightening size, amazing jab, right, and hook, and hits with uncomparable power. He really is one of the best (if not, the best) heavyweights in history. Wladimir has recorded many significant wins in his career, over David Haye (W 12), Chris Byrd (W 12, KO 7), Sam Peter (W 12, KO 10), Tony Thompson (KO 11, KO 6), Ruslan Chagaev (KO 9), and Sultan Ibragimov (W 12).
I predict an 11th round TKO win for Wladimir Klitschko. In some ways, I think this fight will be similar to Wladimir's fight with Ruslan Chagaev back in 2009, where you had a smaller, skilled fighter, be outstrengthened and outsmarted by Wlad, and eventually stopped. Wlad has that size and power advantage and he also has expert boxing know-how. Now, I also think there is a chance at upset for Povetkin. Povetkin is a very good fighter in his own right and if he could manage to win a few rounds, with the fight being in Russia, we might see some judges being "generous" to Povetkin.
Ultimately I hope for fair officiating in this fight!