By Yuri Tarantin

IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Tyson Fury believes Olympic gold medal winner Alexander Povtekin is too small to overcome WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (36-0, 35 KOs).

Fury had the opportunity to size up Povetkin when the two of them met face to face at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn back in January. Both boxers were ringside to watch Wilder retain is title with a ninth round knockout of Artur Szpila.

Fury is not confident with Povetkin's ability to take a punch. He says the Russian fight was staggered and badly hurt with every solid shot that was landed by Wladimir Klitschko back in 2013. Wilder is a very big puncher, but there have also been questions about his chin as well. Fury will face Klitschko in a contracted rematch in the coming months. The true challenge on his list is a showdown with Wilder in the coming months.

"I think Wilder will chin him because the fact that Povetkin is too small and chin [has issues]. I’m going to show to the fans how small Povetkin really is [holding up their photo from Barclays meeting]. He’s like a midget compared to us. Look at the size of him. He’s like a midget. Wilder is as big as me. Look at how big I look," Fury told IFL TV.

"Look at how big Hughie is when compared to [Povetkin]. He looks like a lightweight. So if Wilder can’t chin him...I know his chin [has issues] because every time Klitschko touched him he went down. He went down about 19 times."

Yuri Tarantin covers boxing for Allboxing.ru