I'm not impressed with any of the pudgy Russians of the last decade. But one thing about Povetkin that sets him apart from the other slovenly Slavs is that he WILL scrap when he starts falling behind. He does show some skills as well, and I guess that, and the kindness of local judges have kept him unbeaten. But if he's going to depend on hometown decisions and sub par conditioning much longer, someone will eventually ruin him. If Rahman is motivated and not just coming in as a professional sacrifice, it could happen in late May. If Povetkin was really dedicated we might have something here. As tough and willing to throw down as he is, he'd be good enough to challenge Wlad or Vits very seriously.
Rahman's gonna try and get in one good shot in like he did to Lewis. Now remember power is the last thing to go
If Povetkin shows up like he did vs Huck and an under 250 lb Rock shows up who knows But on a good day Pov with Atlas destroys Rahman and probably stops him
Povetkin should be facing a Klit or at least Derek Chisora..... or even David Haye.. Arreola.. Fury.... Helenius.... Adamek..... someone interesting.......
Rahman apparently had a physical problem which kept his weight very high. He apparently lost 40 pounds after visiting the Duke University medical team. Put it this way. Rahman ONLY wins if he shows up around 240 and Povetkin is fat like he was for the Huck fight. That's it. If both show up in good shape, you have to give Povetkin the edge. I would like to predict Rahman by late KO...but I want to see some evidence of Rahman's physical shape as of right now.
Povetkin needs to have Teddy Atlas in his corner though. We could all see that after his last match. I would also hire Oleg Maskaev as an advisor. Now who would know more about beating Rahaman than Maskaev? No one