Heavy weight

Over the past 10 years, Alexander Povetkin has been and remains the brightest representative of the country in this weight class. During his career, “Russian Knight” made two campaigns for the title of world champion, but both times he stopped a step from the desired goal. In 2013, he could not stop the Klitschko era and with a judicial decision gave way to his younger brother Vladimir, and five years later he failed to cope with the athlete who overthrew the Ukrainian from the throne. Despite the morale and courage of the Russians, Briton Anthony Joshua won by knockout and extended his unbeaten run in the professional ring. After the success at Wembley, she made 22 fights.

To the credit of Alexander, it is worth noting that even such a heavy defeat did not make him hang the gloves on a nail. In October, he announced that he intends to hold a few more battles, and the closest of them could be held in the spring of next year in England.

“Health is excellent, mood too. It's ok. I'm not going to tie boxing. I will have a fight, most likely in April in England. I still do not know with whom. It's hard to say how many fights I will spend. I think, not one and not two, ”- quotes Povetkin, the press service of the promotion company“ World of Boxing ”.

But considering not the youngest age, he hardly has to count on one more title fight. In September 2019, Povetkin will be 40 years old, which is a pretty serious figure, even for a heavy weight category. Of course, there were cases when athletes continued to successfully perform in more mature years, but such units. Perhaps the most prominent representative of the old-time boxers is Bernard Hopkins, who became a light heavyweight champion at 49 years old. Whether Alexander will be able to repeat the achievement of his colleague is a big question.

Meanwhile, an athlete appeared in Russian boxing, which in the future will be able to change the Russian Knight as the flagship among the heavyweights. Sergey Kuzmin began his career in professionals in 2014 and during this time he gained 13 victories. And the last of them was produced at the undercard of the Povetkin-Joshua fight, and his rival was David Price, who is well-known to domestic fans. Angle Briton threw a towel after the fourth round and allowed the 31-year-old athlete to win the vacant WBA Intercontinental title. By the way, before that it was Alexander who owned it.

  • Russian boxer Sergey Kuzmin
  • RIA News

Throughout his career, Kuzmin alternated fights in his native country with performances at boxing shows in the United States, which benefited his career. Recall that exactly this formula brought success to Sergey Kovalev, Dmitry Bivol and Murat Gassiyev, making them popular not only in Russia, but also abroad. At the moment, Sergey has not suffered a single defeat, but he has a battle in his record that he declared to be incomplete. During the fight with Amir Mansur, the athletes received deep cuts, as a result of which the judges recorded a technical draw. However, later the American got into the use of illicit drugs.

After defeating Pryce and winning the championship belt, Kuzmin could very well count on a fight with a more serious rival, but it was not possible to reach an agreement with those. As a result, his opponent will be a little-known American, Laron Mitchell. The fight itself will take place on November 24th on the undercard of the show, the main event of which will be the fight between Dmitry Bivol and Jean Pascal.

“We tried to find a better opponent. Unfortunately, many have refused for one reason or another. Very pleased that Mitchell agreed. He participated in the selection of the US Olympic team and is a worthy opponent. We hope that he will give Kuzmin a competitive fight, ”the boxer’s manager Vadim Kornilov quotes the press service of World Boxing.

First heavy weight

After defeating Denis Lebedev and participating in the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS), Murat Gassiev became the most popular Russian representative of the sport. Dominating victories over Krzysztof Wlodarczyk and Junier Dorticos only strengthened him as the main star of boxing in the country, and winning the status of absolute champion of the world could have made him a national hero. But the Ossetians suffered their first career loss and found themselves in a difficult situation.

In the run-up to the battle with Usikov, Gassiev openly declared his desire to go heavy after winning the Super Series, but failure could seriously correct these plans. Of course, Murat wants revenge on Alexander, but this will not be so easy. The Ukrainian clearly decided to go further and on November 10 he will meet in the ring with Brit Tony Belle. As for the Russian, at the moment he did not announce in which weight category his next fight will take place, it is only known that he will be held in spring in Krasnodar.

  • Russian boxer Murat Gassiev
  • RIA News

At the same time, it is possible that his former opponent Lebedev will become Gassiev’s opponent. In September, the WBA “champion on vacation” made his long-awaited return to boxing, sending Hizni Altynkaya to the ring floor, and already on November 24 he will meet with Mike Wilson. The undefeated American won 19 victories, eight of which ahead of time, but during his career he did not meet with serious opposition. Thus, this fight is a continuation of the preparation of Denis to stronger opponents.

Also important is the fact that for Lebedev this fight will be the first in eight years, which he will hold not in his native land. The last time Denis fought abroad back in 2010, in Germany, against Marco Huck. The judges cast their votes in favor of the German and did not allow the Russian to win the WBO world title.

And on November 10, promising Russian boxer Maxim Vlasov will make his debut in the second season of the World Boxing Super Series. He began performing in the professional ring at the age of 19, and during that time he won 42 victories and suffered only two defeats - from Isaac Chilemba and the undefeated Mexican Gilberto Ramirez Sanchez. In this case, both failures befell him in the light heavyweight.

From the moment he lost to Sanchez, he changed the weight category, scored 12 wins in a row and won the WBC Silver and WBA Continental titles. But it is a fight with Glowacki is for him a moment of truth. In case of victory, Vlasov will be among the leaders of his weight class and will have every chance of becoming one of the main contenders for the title. Judging by the words of the athlete, he is well aware of this.

“I am happy to be in Chicago and be part of such a big tournament. Last year, the World Boxing Super Series was the best event of the year. I hope I can show a great fight on Saturday. I know a lot about my opponent and have seen enough of his performances. He is a difficult and dangerous boxer. He can punch at any time, and with him you need to stay focused every second. At this stage of my career, I perceive the duel with Glovatsky as “make or die,” the Russian told the WBSS press service.