Klitschko (left) will take on Povetkin (right)

After months of prolonged negotiations it was finally announced today that Wladimir Klitschko 54-3 (48) will defend his IBF, WBO and IBO World heavyweight title belts against unbeaten Alexander Povetkin 19-0 (14).

The date of this fight will be the 11th of September and the venue will be the Commerzbank-Arena, Frankfurt in Germany.

Povetkin has been IBF mandatory contender for quite some time now and there were rumours that trainer Teddy Atlas who has been on board for Povetkin’s last two fights was going to try and avoid Klitschko but thankfully this is not the case.

Povetkin’s camp had announced several months ago that they were going to pursue random drug testing for the champion but the champion responded by saying that he would comply with any drug testing as demanded by the boxing federations but no more. It would seem that this issue has now been dropped.

There can be no doubt that Povetkin is a good fighter and one of the best contenders around. Decent men like a still sharp Chris Byrd, Larry Donald and Eddie Chambers were all beaten by Povetkin but strangely his opposition has got worse recently.

Povetkin is now thirty years old and this is the time to make his move. He is a good pressure fighter but can be easy to hit. Whether he can get inside Klitschko’s jab without taking too much pressure must be open to debate.


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  3. Povetkin confirmed as Wladimir Klitschko’s next opponent
  4. Povetkin Aiming To Send Klitschko A Message Against Mora