by Yuri Tarantin
Olympic gold medal winner Alexander Povetkin (28-1, 20KOs) has been elevated to the number one position in the WBC rankings, coming very close to a mandatory shot at current champion Deontay Wilder (33-0, 32KOs).
Povetkin suffered multiple knockdowns in his 2013 shot at Wladimir Klitschko, and bounced back with solid knockout wins over Manuel Charr and Carlos Takam. Povetkin holds the WBC's silver version of the title at heavyweight.
The WBC had ordered a final eliminator between Povetkin and number two ranked Mike Perez, but there is no word on negotiations for the fight or the fight being ordered by the sanctioning body.
The previous mandatory challenger was Bryant Jennings, who vacated his post to challenge Klitschko on April 25th at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Yuri Tarantin covers boxing for Allboxing.ru.