Povetkin's Trainer Prefers Tyson Fury, Not Rahman Bout

By Ruslan Chikov

Teddy Atlas, trainer of WBA "regular" heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (23-0, 16KOs), would prefer to have to his boxer face British/Commonwealth champion Tyson Fury (17-0, 12KOs) - and not WBA mandatory challenger Hasim Rahman (50-7-2, 31KOs). Last Saturday in Helsinki, Povetkin made the first defense of his title by knocking out heavyweight veteran Cedric Boswell in six rounds.

Atlas thinks there might be a way to stage another voluntary defense before facing Rahman. Fury has challenged Povetkin in recent interviews and his large frame and height of 6'9 would evaluate how well Povetkin performs against a much taller boxer.

"The WBA appointed [Rahman] as the mandatory challenger to the belt, but I think that we can obtain the opportunity to take a fight in between [the required time to face Rahman]. I'm not sure about this, but this possibility is not excluded. I think that we could spend [our time] on a lot more interesting fights. In particular, against Tyson Fury - he a big guy, and also from England where boxing is very popular. In my opinion, that fight would be a lot more interesting than a fight with Rahman," Atlas told Alexander Pavlov.