Povetkin to be honest. I am one of Sanders's biggest fans here. But the truth is his defense was leaky and he was rarely in shape. Look at Sanders vs Rahman. This was supposed to be one of the biggest fights of Sanders's career. Yet he ran out of gas after 5-6 rounds. I am sure Sanders did have fights where he showed decent endurance. The problem is that he showed up in poor shape for the biggest fights of his career- namely vs Rahman and Vitali. Hence in any hypothetical match ups, we have to take Sanders's weak stamina into account. We can't magically give him good endurance. Yes, a properly trained, motivated and fit Sanders would likely beat Povetkin. But how many times in his career did he show up in great shape vs a quality opponent? We can't give fighters we like traits that they rarely or never displayed. Sanders does have a decent shot at knocking Povetkin out in the first 4-5 rounds. Once it goes past that, Povetkin wears him down and stops him late.
He'd had a knee injury for the Rahman fight which precluded him doing roadwork or much sparring. His shape for the Vitali fight was woeful, agreed, but he WAS like 38 years old. If we do these hypotheticals we typically take best versions, and at his best Sanders did not have stamina problems. I mean, I guess I could point to Huck version of Povetkin as an example of his poor conditioning and go with that one That all said, Povetkin is a great fighter and no easy outing for anybody. Sasha is very well rounded, with a wide arsenal of punches, good infighting ability and a good chin. If he can handle Sanders' power - and that may be a big if - he would seek to fight him in a phonebooth and exchange there. You are correct that Povetkin has better defence, particularly head movement, than Sanders. However what is also true is that despite Sanders' rather upright stance, he was usually able to keep the fight at the distance he liked and used his length, speed and accuracy to land first. I like both these all-action fighters. Povetkin feels more 'complete' to me. Sanders is kind of a one trick pony in that he liked to let the other guy lead and then nail the dude with his lightning bolt straight left. However, he often did this because it was so effective for him. And once he had his man hurt he threw caution to the wind and threw everything into getting him out of there. That's often where he got hit himself. Their common opponent is Wlad and if we use him as a measuring stick, Sanders comes out on top. Old Sanders beat a young Wlad. However, there's also the styles matchup to consider, where Wlad's style is poison to Povetkin. Sanders style is very unusual and Wlad simply couldn't cope with it, and his speed. I'm going to go on a limb and say that Sanders' straighter, faster and more accurate punches will do the job over Povetkin's more varied inside attack. Povetkin got tagged a lot by Wlad when trying to close the distance, and Sanders is a faster puncher than Klitschko. Though to be honest if either of these guys beat the other it shouldn't be a surprise.
No one ever decisioned Sanders. Corrie has a huge range advantage both in reach and in much faster, more nimble feet. For as long as he stayed fresh he would be dictating distance and throwing hurt at Sasha. Great fight but distinct skillsets.
