Povetkin vs Hammer – Russian heavyweight Alexander Povetkin takes on Christian Hammer this Friday, December 15th for the WBO International title. The fight is in Ekaterinaburg, Russia and sees the hometown fighter Povetkin enter a heavy favorite.
Povetkin may be the most controversial figure in today’s heavyweight division this side of Tyson Fury. At 38, the former Olympic gold medalist has competed at the highest levels for basically two decades. The only loss of his career came against Wladimir Klitschko where he was knocked down four times but managed to get to the end of the 12 rounds.
That setback against Klitschko came in October of 2013 and Povetkin had put in the work to earn another title shot. Before the end of 2015 he had gone 4-0, knocking out a string of contenders that includes Manuel Charr, Marius Wach and Carlos Takam. Povetkin signed to fight WBC word titleholder Deontay Wilder after that and that is when things went wrong.
Wilder was in transit to Russia to face Povetkin when news broke that Povetkin had tested positive for a banned substance. The fight was off but Povetkin and his deep pocketed sponsors put up a a vigourous defense that involved denials and threatened lawsuits against reporters and Wilder.
Povetkin later set up a WBC interim title fight with Bermane Stiverne, but that fight fell apart when Povetkin failed another PED test. In what remains a shocking display of bravado by Povetkin, he had the credible contender Johan Duhaupas on stand-by. Logic would have dictated that Duhaupas face Stiverne but not in today’s world of boxing. Povetkin knocked out the Frenchman while Stiverne flew home without a fight and without a payday.
Wilder ruled out fighting Povetkin because of the failed tests and the Russian’s relation with the WBC is gone.
Now it should be noted that afterwards Wilder signed to fight Luis Ortiz and that fight fell apart due to a positive test by Ortiz. After a big show, the WBC elected to not do anything about Ortiz’ positive test and Wilder has since said he will “bless Ortiz again” with a world title shot. So anything is possible down the line.
For now however, Povetkin and his people are paying sanctioning fees with the World Boxing Organization. The current WBO world heavyweight champion is Joseph Parker of New Zealand, so Povetkin may have his sites set on luring the Kiwi to Moscow in early 2018.
One potential hang up to prevent Povetkin and Parker is the presence of Australia’s Lucas Browne. Browne as a regional rival to Parker represents a big payday and a much easier opponent than Povetkin. Browne by the way, has two failed PED tests on his resume as well, so he fits right in to the mix here. Povetkin, Ortiz and Browne are all likely ranked in the top 10 of the heavyweight division despite having two failed PED tests each.
As for Hammer (22-4), he has put together a strong five fight winning streak that includes victories over Erkan Tepper and David Price. Most of the losses in his career came early, with the one big loss coming to Tyson Fury. That his fight with Fury was for this same WBO International belt cannot be lost on Hammer.
DIVS – Ekaterinburg, Russia
Heavyweight 12 rounds – (as of TUE Dec 12th)
Christian Hammer +1500
Alexander Povetkin -3000
Heavyweight 12 rounds – (as of THU Dec 14th)
Christian Hammer +2500
Alexander Povetkin -5000
Povetkin vs Hammer / Check out more boxing news and features at The Sweet Science.
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