By Igor Lazorin, tass
Russian boxer Alexander Povetkin will not chase a knockout victory over David Price - although the British boxer has been knocked out several times and appears to have issues with chin.
It was officially announced on Friday that Povetkin will risk his mandatory position under the WBA, when he faces Price as part of the undercard to the heavyweight unification between Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker - which will be held on March 31 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
In December, Povetkin defeated Christian Hammer of Germany by unanimous decision in a duel for the international WBO and WBA titles. With that victory, the Olympic gold medal winner became the WBA's official contender to challenge the winner of the showdown between Joshua and Parker. Joshua is the WBA's "super" champion at heavyweight.
In total, the 38-year-old Russian boxer scored 33 victories, 23 of which were knock outs, and one defeat.
Price last appeared in the ring on December 2 of last year, and in that duel he defeated the Polish boxer Kamil Sokolowski by way of a decision win.
In total, the 34-year-old Briton has had 26 fights, in which he won 22 wins (18 by knockout) and suffered four defeats.
Povetkin admits that he does have some issues with taller opponents, and he realizes that Price does have some punching power, so he doesn't want to take any unnecessary risks by chasing after a knockout victory.
He believes the knockout will come if he sticks to the game plan and does his work by outboxing Price, round by round.
"I always want to show off a good strategy of boxing and by doing that I believe everything will come," Povetkin said.
"Price is a great opponent, and I have had some problems in the past with tall fighters. The best way to deal with this fight is to keep it at a short distance, work our strategy, and everything else will happen."