Povetkin's last 10 opponents.

He's the same technically, but improved his physique and his stamina seems better now.

 

He got a lot more aggressive. I'd say his defense is better, but its hard to see due to the low number of rounds he boxed recently. Many people say he started hitting harder, but the reality is, just started putting his power behind the shots more rather than do an amateur-style point shots.

 

Povetkin is the favorite between Wilder and him.

Pov's chin is great, his inside fighting is notorious for KO'ing people, and don't forget Wilder leaves himself open in the center quite often... if Deontay doesn't fix that, he'll lose the belt and his nuts. I can picture his ego crumbling after losing to a much shorter heavyweight

 

Mixed bag.

Rahman was shot to pieces, Wawrzyk undeserving of his ranking. Wach is a walking heavy-bag, so the only way for it to become a meaningful victory would be stopping him (where Klitschko failed to). Charr is by now pretty clearly a joke, which shouldn't have taken everybody so long to realize (struggled with Tank Williams, got a gift over Zack Page, looked well on his way to losing to Yakup Saglam before the injury and THE SAME THING with Bakhtov, didn't just lose every second of every minute but was dominated the entire way against Vitali, was destroyed by Povetkin and Briedis and lost to Duhaupas.

So those four, not so good.

Perez and Takam, however, are both top 5-10 h2h at the weight. Those are great scalps - especially via KO! Huck was a top dog at cruiser and came up and put on the performance of his life. Creditable victory, that one, especially considering that Povetkin was in poor nick himself. Chagaev and Boswell may have both had some excess miles on them (Chagaev younger but with some long-term health issues) but were still both solid wins. And who can argue with giving Klitschko all he can handle from mid-range and forcing him to hold and club all night?

 

Impressed with what exactly? By beating a mentally damaged boxer in Mike Perez? The ones highlighted in bold are straight up pies. Huck arguably beat him, and Klitschko spanked him. Wilder will knock him out, mark my words!

 

I see him as a heavy favorite. His skill is on a whole different level, he is very experienced, has an iron chin and very fast hands with good power.

Wilder has his size, stamina and freakish reach going for him. If they were 2-3 inches apart, I'd bet the bank on Povetkin.

 

I ve not followed Povetkin's career since Wlad took him down a notch, but from the clips on youtube, Povetkin seems to look improved and pretty impressive as of late.

He and Wilder would be great to see.

 

:good

His "dark period" was definitely a matter of mindset (and Atlas' toxic presence)

 

Povetkin has been doing more Olympic lifting type training. Power cleans and push presses/jerks. Snatches from the hang and floor along with specific conditioning training that has improved his conditioning as well. He has been on an upward trajectory since the Wlad fight and will tear through Wilder.