Povetkin back on 15 December!

Agreed (somewhat), they're all levels below Povetkin but unfortunately he's not going to be getting a voluntary title shot while he's still this side of 40. His best plan of action right now is to make himself mandatory challenger and beating Hammer puts him in very good stead to do that, especially with the WBO. It's a "best of an ugly bunch" kind of scenario really.

The only opponent I would consider a better option for him would be Ortiz for the WBA regular or something but that seems unlikely for anybody that isn't Fres Oquendo.

 

Povetkin will avenge our dear David Price!

 

The hammer fight is the one Povetkin has to make - it will position him for a title shot. He's getting older - he's fighting against the clock. Time isn't on his side. Fight Hammer Secure your mandatory spot. Then while you wait the 1 year for big fight - you can take on a no threat match like Briggs.

 

People keep talking Hammer /shwartz but Briggs is better than both. Briggs is shooting himself in the foot hes on borrowed time if he thinks he will get more noticed with than a win over Povetkin hes truly off his rocker .He needs a big name and a relevant one on his resume now,for him to knit pick at negotiations now is pure dumb. A win over a lesser opponent doesnt get him anywhere,at least take the chance of losing to Povetkin if you have too.

 

Ortiz!!!!

 

WTF hammer was 250+ vs Price? plus he just missed out on the WBSS dumb move if true

 

Think I have to disagree with you there. I think Hammer is underrated. He stopped Price, and beat Teper which is far better than Briggs's best recent performance which was a points win over Love who was not even a top 100 opponent, and that is his best recent win for years.

 

Hammer is an ok opponent, I'd expect Povetkin to stop him in the mid to late rounds.

Parker or Ortiz would be much better fights of the guys possibly available.

If a win over Hammer positions Povetkin into a mandatory or final eliminator positon than it's a smart fight to take.

If he beats Hammer and is no closer to a big fight than its just another stay busy scenario for Povetkin. He's had several of these type of fights in a row and at 38 he doesn't the time to just stay busy.

 

No way is Briggs better than Hammer. He may have been better than Hammer but he certainly isn't right now. Hammer stopped Price and defeated Teper. He was also in with Fury in a losing effort and has defeated many of the notable trial horses in the sport the last few years. Briggs hasn't come close to that in a decade. Hammer is top 10-15 in the division and also helps solidify a mandatory ranking. It's a no brainer. Although I suspect if Povetkin does become a mando for The WBO or WBA you will see unification fights start happening putting him on back burner again.

 

not wishing to be PEDantic, but Alex is back in business baby. Hes a different PEDigree to Hammer. Chris will need a PEDicure for his stamPED-on head.

gimme dem sweets.

 

I just feel like he is consistently left out from the discussion at HW in favor of Joshua, Wilder and Parker (and until recently Fury, and WK) and it stems more from him not getting any meaningful fights than from any real or perceived decline in his ability relative to his peers. You could argue he's still probably the second or third best heavyweight on the planet h2h (as he was throughout most of the K2 era) but he never gets brought up with the other names because he's just toiling in obscurity with these moderate to severe layoffs and then facing mediocre opposition (and yes, dominating them, but still, they're beneath him and not worth his time and the matches themselves are forgettable due to how noncompetitive they are) - plus he is now past the five year mark of having not fought outside Russia. The rest of the world just isn't paying attention to him anymore. Meanwhile, you have Wilder (a vastly inferior HW) at least scheduled to face what passes for a decent contender at HW these days, in Ortiz (really not his fault how that fell through, and the replacement Stiverne, while not great, is also what passes for a decent contender these days, especially compared with some of what Povetkin has been feasting on at home) and Parker is taking on what most heading in thought was a big stylistic risk with Hughie Fury, and Joshua is about to follow up his proving-grounds fight with Klitschko with a defense against the perennial top-5ish Pulev.

It just sucks. Povetkin could be arguably the best of the bunch and he's just doing a fat lot of nothing. Then when he does fight it's very disappointing selections, when all the other top heavies are somehow able to land dates with at least vaguely respectable (again, for HW) opponents.

 

Well that's very unlucky for him, because he is overdue for a big win over a name opponent and that doesn't seem to be on the horizon for him anytime soon at this rate.