On Saturday night, Russian heavyweight Alexander Povetkin put himself in position for another world title fight after he knocked out Britain’s David Price in the fifth round of their showdown before a crowd of 80,000 fans.
Povetkin’s brutal victory at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, makes retain the status of being the mandatory challenger to the WBA, WBO heavyweight titles.
The 38-year-old Povetkin, the 2004 Olympic champion, was the WBA champ from 2011-13, but his career has been slowed after he twice tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2016 - after scheduled fight with Deontay Wilder and Bermane Stiverne falling apart as a result.
Price managed to stun Povetkin with a right hook at the end of the first round.
But the Russian quickly recovered, knocking Price down in the fourth round and then suffering a knockout of his own - before knocking Price out to end the match in the fifth.
Povetkin has just one loss -- on points to Kazakhstan-born Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko in 2013 -- in his 35 bouts.
Povetkin wants to fight WBO, WBA, IBF, IBO world champion Anthony Joshua - who defeated Joseph Parker in the main event, but the promoter of the British superstar, Eddie Hearn, wants to match him against another of his fighters, Dillian Whyte.
Whyte's only defeated came at the hands of Joshua in December of 2015.
"Povetkin is mandatory for Anthony Joshua, but Dillian wants to fight him in June," Hearn said after the fight.
According to Hearn, Povetkin is interested in facing Whyte.
Whyte was in action last Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, when he scored a vicious knockout victory over former world champion Lucas Browne. Whyte is sitting in the top rated position to WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder - but the World Boxing Council has not ordered that fight and there is guarantee that it comes off in the near future.