He's good. His physique is deceiving, he probably has the best stamina and work-rate in the heavyweight division. Reasonable power, not great, but accumatively enough to do damage. Good technical pressure. His main problems are defensively, I don't know how many times Chambers caught him with an overhand right. He was extremely lucky Chambers is a feather fist.
I think Chambers deflated a lot of the hype. Although he won, he looked pretty ordinary in that fight.
Chambers has extremely fast hands, it's doubtful most others in the division would land that many clean punches on him, maybe Haye?:think
Well, I couldn't see him taking flush shots like that from Haye. He looked a little bit stunned at times, not hurt, but stunned. He felt a few of those from Chambers. The question is whether he can take them, and get Haye into the mid-rounds. From there he has the perfect style, he can get in close and limit the leverage on Haye's shots, and also really test his questionable stamina with his work-rate
I guess I was thinking of Hayes fast hands, and wether or not he would land as many flush shots as Chambers. I was going over fights in my head the other day and figured out that Haye/Povetkin makes perfect sense. Haye wants Wlad more than anyone, he just hasnt proven himself at Heavyweight yet, while Povetkin is not sure he's ready for Wlad at the moment and probably needs another match against a top caliber fighter. The winner gets Wlad late this year, early next year. I think the fans would finally see what Hayes made of and how deserving he is in fighting Wlad by beating Povetkin and proving he has stamina and can beat a fighter with a high workrate, while Povetkin can show he can effectively beat a fast handed jabber, who is also powerful.
It's an attractive matchup for sure. Two of the more exciting fighters in the division. One undefeated, one a bit of an unknown at heavyweight, but coming with a lot of hype. The whole amateur thing going on between them. I think it would be great, but I'm not sure Povetkin's management will agree
I wouldn't really call Chambers feather fisted. He's a light puncher, but he's not a truly a featherfisted HW like Jason Estrada, Kevin Johnson, or P4P, someone like Malignaggi for instance. He has great speed, some serious pop when he sits down on his punches, and light power. If you take a closer look at his record and performances you could see this. Also, not to make excuses (but I'm making one ), but Povetkin was sick during the week of the fight and his team was actually going to pull him out if Povetkin wasn't so against it. He had a fever during the actual fight and still managed to throw 900 punches. But yeah, Povetkin has serious defensive issues and even if he has a great chin, these issues will need to be improved a lot. In the current division, the fighter I could see beating him is Klitschko, but I still favor Povetkin for various reasons. I rate Wlad pretty low and haven't been as impressed by his performances in recent years as much as others. Haye is the next biggest threat, only because of his punch and the possibility that his chin might improve at HW. Peter isn't much of a threat IMO, especially if he's not in the kind of shape he was during the Klitschko fight. Chagaev/Ibragimov aren't threats. Valuev isn't too much of a threat and he wouldn't fight Povetkin anyways because they're friends. Solis is a potential real threat if he improves, but who knows if he'll ever get 100% serious about being the best. Another serious concern about Povetkin is his face. It cuts up and swells up like crazy. So basically, Povetkin is a solid B+ HW who could potentially become the best in this weak era of HW's if he beats Klitschko later this year.
I pretty much agree. A lot of people are sleeping on him, he barely gets a mention. He wasn't at his best against Chambers for whatever reason, and people have lost faith. But 900 punches for a heavyweight is pretty amazing, and gives him one hell of a start in this division He definitely needs to resolve the defensive issues before he fights Wlad, I'd prefer to see a slow progression. It's possible he could get Wlad into panic stations with his style, but I have to think he's just a little green and defensively sloppy at the moment. Peter I don't see causing him a problem whatsoever, I'd confidently predict Povetkin to outwork and outbox him already. Peter's windmilling punching style is not a threat, quick straight punches are Povetkin's weakness Haye I already went over, its an intriguing fight.
I think the fans would love it, and it would also shut Haye the **** up, if he wins he gets his wish of fighting Wlad, but as you said in your post, Povetkins management team would have to be ******ed to match him up with Haye, to big of a risk since he got a fight with Wlad later this year already.
People just want every HW prospect to look like a future ATG and are dissappointed with anything else, especially if it's not an American fighter. I'm starting to wish he would fight Wlad later as well, but I still think he'll beat him. It would obviously be easier and smarter for Povetkin to improve defensively before fighting him, but Povetkin is a guy who needs to be pushed/challenged to become extremely motivated and this is the fight he wants the most. Wlad has never fought anyone as good as Povetkin and I don't know why people don't agree with that. It's a dangerous fight for both of them. My main worry actually isn't Povetkin's chin or defense, it's his face swelling/cutting up early in the fight.
Povetkin gets hit too much. Hopefully, Wlad ends it early. If the fight lasts too long, Povetkin will sustain the type of damage that ruins careers.
Povetkin is not Hype , trust me... He is deceptively quick and has a great chin.. In fact its not a question of can he handle Hayes power.. Can Haye handle what Alex will put on him.. I pick Povetkin every day...
Great post, Huki. This is really very accurate. I do think Peter is a bit of a threat, however, because his style really isn't too different than Povetkin, maybe not as accurate, but his sheer strength would give AP problems. Povetkin also stands a real chance of beating Wlad, simply because he's a very accurate pressure fighter who will press Wlad and very likely be able to negate his biggest advantage--the jab. Wlad's right hand is the only real concern. Povetkin is a smart fighter and I think he'll adapt from the Chambers fight and learn defend more against the right.
