I have been lobbying for Povetkin or Hunter. Povetkin could step away form the Whyte rematch, pick up this belt, tally a semi-legit championship, and if he wanted to re-invade heavy, more power to him. He has to wait until the Fury-Joshua-Puelv-Wilder-Usyk-Kabayel circus plays out anyway. In the meantime, Whyte could fight a bum and get his #1 spot back to join the circus. But all of this would be too easy and sensible.
I followed Povetkin well before he turned pro ... and outside of the 'arguably an issue' drugs thing pre-Wilder, the bloke has been a genuinely top shelf HW both in the ams and pros. He took tough early pro fights and there's no shame losing the way he did to an absolute prime Wlad. Fury and Joshua don't have wins over a prime Wladimir on their record. A Hunter-Povetkin rematch for this belt is something I'd be really really interested in. Good call. I'd love to see that go down.
He claims scales were off as he weighed in 199. He may have a point as another fight also had both fighters a few pounds under weight. Also may have a point as he weight 10lbs more yesterday under a month later. Darren barker said he was for some reason running on the treadmill like a madman for some strange reason day before weigh in and sweating buckets. He had no idea why but my guess it’s trying to increase his stamina. As his style is heavily reliant on not blowing out after 3 rounds
