When it comes to watching the heavyweight division in boxing, these past few years have been full of disappointments. The Klitschko’s no matter what you think of them are head and shoulders ahead of everyone else. David Haye has talked a good fight, but has spent his time fighting old men and seems set to continue that, he’s fought Nikolay Valuev and spent more time running than fighting, he’s fought John Ruiz, a guy who had seemingly managed to get title fights for doing nothing, and now heads into a fight with the much maligned Audley Harrison.
Though for many hardcore boxing fans Haye isn’t the only heavyweight to let us down. In fact many feel that Haye is only the second notable heavyweight to wimp out of major fights. The other fighter is Russian fighter Alexander Povetkin. Povetkin turned professional with the hardcore boxing fans paying attention from the start, he had been a sensational amateur, he had won Olympic gold in 2004, he looked special as an amateur, aggressive and exciting, with a KO punch even with the bigger gloves and head gear. He would turn professional the following year and make a charge up the rankings. With in a year of turning over he had defeated experienced fighters such as Willie Chapman, Richard Bango and the established Friday Ahunyana. By the time he had fought 10 fights he seemed destined to be fast tracked to the top, he was the heir apparent to the Klitschko’s and was happy to show his skills by beating solid and well thought of fighters. Adding names like Ed Mahone, Imanu Mayfield, David Bostice, Patrick L’Heureux and Larry Donald to his record, even fans who don’t follow German boxing were taking note. He was beating former title challengers and he had only been professional for 2 years. Then with victories over Chris Byrd and Eddie Chambers he had worked his way to the IBF’s #1 slot, he was first in line to fight Wladamir Klitschko, the man generally regarded as one of the best 2 fighters in the division.
Fans world wide had started looking foreward to this talented and aggressive novice professional putting up a fight against the supposedly chinny and boring Wladamir…then problems started to strike. First it was injury that ruloed out the fight, and although Wladamir would continue to defend his belt, Povetkin spent his time fighting moderate fighters, such as Taurus Sykes and Leo Nolan. The momentumn from his rise had been cut off. His career had effectively ran into a brick wall.
Then good news, or at least it seemed like good news. Povetkin linked up with famed trainer Teddy Atlas. A trainer that had worked with some of the best fighters in the business and had been ESPN’s play by play man for years (and still is)…though he was also the man who had admitted taking a gun up to Donny LaLondes home with the intention of shooting the “Golden Boy”. A few voices seemed to indicate Atlas wasn’t the best choice for Povetkin, and it soon showed, another encounter with Wladamir was cancelled at the last minute, Atlas said it was his fault, feeling his new charge wasn’t ready. Though a few months later he said he was going to get Povetkin in the ring and get him busy again, the 19-0 (14) Russian was to be busy and the bandwagon was to start again.
Povetkin makes a return to the ring after over 7 months out when he faces the 16-2-1 (4) Teke Oruh. The idea behind it is that Povetkin can shake some ring rust, can get back to fighting and in Oruh “should” have a fighter who won’t just turn up to Russia for a payday. Sadly however the once promising Nigerian (who was 14-0-1 after his first 15 fights) is unlikely to be anything more than cannon fodder for the capable, clever and powerful Russian. Oruh, nicknamed the “African Prince” genuinely has little to offer. His record shows he doesn’t hit particularly hard (having only stopped 1 of his last 7 opponents), he hasn’t been active (it’s his first fight since November 2008), he’s not used to fighting in Europe (having fought 16 times in the USA and once in St Lucia), he’s not in great form (losing his last 2) and he’s just turned 32 a few months back. Oruh has been selected by Povetkins handlers, who know that he poses no risk at all to the Russian. Sadly its a sign of the times. Instead of facing a decent and active fighter who could survive the distance they have elected a fighter looking for a payday and seen as an easy nights work and it’s obvious.
Although Oruh is taller by a single inche, his weight has been dramatically higher than that of Povetkin, worryingly it’s unlikely that Oruh will be below 260 and be little more than a human punchbag for Povetkin to toy with. With a Russian venue for the fight on October 16th the fight will be a showcase for Povetkin and his fans. This means the fight will go in one of two ways, either Povetkin stops him stupidly early in the opening round, showing his power against a previously unstopped fighter, or Povetkin drags it out. It’s hard to see the first option happening though, the idea is to let him shake the ring rust off, he’ll dominate the first 5 or 6 rounds with out breaking a sweat, looking completely at ease then go for the stoppage.
For those pointing out that Oruh has never been stopped before, there is a reason for that. Oruh has generally faced very low quality opponents, his biggest win to date is a majority decision over Jason Gavern. The win over Gavern was coincidentally Oruhs last win before lsoing to Joey Abell and Manuel Quezada. Neither Abell or Quezada hit as hard as Povetkin (and ignore Abells impressive looking 27-4-0-2 record with 26KO’s as they’ve been against low calibre fighters) and Oruh’s inactivity won’t help him to take a shot.
Expect, if you can find a way to watch the fight, to be disappointed by Povetkin getting a win over a tamato can. Hopefully he will man up sooner rather than later, but with the heavyweight scene in bit of a standstill, I can’t see it myself.
