By Luke Furman
Undisputed heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (58-3, 51KOs) will not allow himself to get forced into a fight with WBC "regular" champion Alexander Povetkin (25-0, 17KOs), according to Wladimir's manager Bernd Boente.
Following Povetkin's one-sided knockout of Hasim Rahman, the Russian boxer's promoter, Sauerland Event, said the WBA has given Wladimir until the end of February to face Povetkin. Wladimir defense his belts next against undefeated Mariusz Wach on November 10th in Hamburg.
Boente denies the WBA's mandate and says Wladimir has until the end of July and even then the unified champion will take the best fight possible.
"The [WBA] gave us a period of two years, from the time of the David Haye fight [in July 2011], to make a mandatory defense. In other words, up to July 2013. Povetkin is not a true champion, he's the same [as everyone else], a normal contender. We will not allow anyone to force us to do anything," Boente said.
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org