By Luke Furman
Alexander Zimin, the former head trainer of Olympic gold medal winner Alexander Povetkin (33-1, 23 KOs), criticized the current coaching staff of the Russian boxer after his most recent win over Christian Hammer.
The bout, which was a WBA, WBO final eliminator, saw Povetkin dominate Hammer over twelve rounds of lackluster action on December 15 in Yekaterinburg.
Due to the win, Povetkin is now in position to challenge the winner of the potential Anthony Joshua vs. Joseph Parker unification - which may take place in the first quarter of 2018.
Zimin felt there was no combination punching, that Povetkin never stepped on the gas to get the knockout win, and he also saw the Russian boxer slow down in the second half of the contest.
"In this type of fight, Alexander could have won inside the distance. It was only necessary to increase the level of attacks, the frequency of combinations, it was necessary to get in a lot more big attacks. Alexander's maximum output was three shots in a row, of which only one was accurate. Physically he should be able to do this. But the technical reserve was not sufficient for the opponent that lied at his feet. There needed to be more focus on accurate punches, more focus on accurate attacks," Zimin said to Soviet Sport.
"I see that Povetkin's emphasis on training is not on tactics and technology, the coaching staff is content with what it has. In certain moments, Alexander had the look of a diminished fighter. He never pushed forward with technique, for example like using the distance to land better punches. There were repetitions of single punches, but there were no combinations - and without them you cannot do anything and you become just another boxer."
Povetkin is expected to fight again in the coming months, but no timeline has been set for his next ring outing. There will be at least one interim bout before he pressed for a mandatory title shot.
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.
