By Andrew Graves @andrewgravess
This weekend the boxing world will see Wladimir Klitschko defend his WBA (Super),IBF, WBO, IBO and The Ring Heavyweight titles against unbeaten WBA (Regular) champion Alexander Povetkin in Povetkin's home country of Russia.
Klitschko comes in to the bout as the second longest reigning heavyweight champion of all time behind boxing legend Joe Louis, The Ukrainian has prevailed in his last 17 matchups since his shock defeat to underdog American Lamont Brewster a loss which Klitschko would later revenge. Ever since stopping Chris Byrd in the 7th round to become the IBF and the IBO heavyweight champion in 2006 Wladimir has defended his belts 14 times along the way unifying all the major world championships except for arguably the most coveted of all the belts the WBC which is held by his older brother Vitali. However the champion hasn't always been this seemingly unbeatable fighter, In his earlier years the Ukrainian was wrote of by a lot of boxing pundits after suffering 3 devastating loses all by knockout to lets just say lesser opposition, Even in his win against Samuel Peter in there IBF number 1 contender bout Klitschko was knocked throughout the fight and survived to pick up a UD victory, To become a boxing great Wladimir knew he had to make changes to his approach so he would look for help when he joined up with legendary trainer the late great Emanuel Stewart, Stewart would improve Klitschko's tactics and defense so he would no longer be caught by big punches. There isn't to many superstars on Wladimir's resume but his biggest scalp up to now would be when he would come up against the former undisputed Cruiserweight and at the time the WBA Heavyweight champion British superstar David Haye, There bout would be the most anticipated Heavyweight clash in many a year with many people believing Haye would be the man to stop the Klitschko's dominance in the division. However on the night of the 2nd of July 2011 in what was supposedly going to be the Ukranian's hardest test the champion would cruise to an easy points win controlling Haye on the end of his piston like jab all night. Wladimir's latest bout was against 28-0-1 number 1 contender Italian Francesco Pianeta, Wlad would dominate the bout from the opening bell stopping Pianeta in the 6th round to retain his 5 belts.
The latest challenger to the Klitschko brothers reign is 26-0 unbeaten WBA (Regular) champion and former Olympic gold medalist Russian Alexander Povetkin, Povetkin comes into the bout with the advantage of fighting in front of his adoring home town crowd in Moscow Russia. Povetkin is officially a world champion even though many people criticize his stance as a champion, Due to the WBA announcing Wladimir as there super champion leaving his regular title vacant, Povetkin would capture the vacant title on the 27th of August 2011 by defeating Uzbekistani former world champion Ruslan Chagaev via unanimous points decision. Ever since this impressive performance Povetkin has defended his title 4 times, His latest bout coming against Poland's Andrezej Wawrzyk stopping the challenger in the third round setting up his biggest opportunity in his career against Wladimie Klitschko.
On to the bout which is going down Saturday night, Unfortunately i can only see one winner in this and it will be the recognized best Heavyweight in the world Wladimir Klitschko, I just think his experience and the level of opposition his has been in with is on another planet to Povetkin even though i would like the Russian to win to spice up the division i think it will be a typical Klitschko bout with him dominating his opponent on the end of his jab and stopping Povetkin in the middle rounds maybe round 6 or 7.
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