By Andrey Krikunov
Russian heavyweight Alexander Povetkin is wrapping up his training camp for the bout against Leo Nolan which is set to take place in Germany on December 5.
The boxer told that he had lost weight over the last few months while training under Teddy Atlas. Povetkin weighed 108 kilos [238-pounds] before but during his camp in the United States he dropped to 98 kilos [215.6-pounds]. The Russian expects to weigh 100-102 kilos [220 to 224] on the day of fight.
Povetkin also says that the work with Atlas is really useful for him. The trainer made him think a lot in the ring and at the beginning the boxer was getting tired from that.
“The main progress is that my defense got a lot better, I take less punches now”, - told Povetkin in the interview to the website of theRussian professional boxing federation. – “At the beginning of our work I had to think a lot, I came to the training like going to math class, and got tired after that. But now I've gotten used to it, and everything is much easier”.
“At first it was hard, it seemed that his brain was going to explode from the overload of new information”, - says Atlas. - "But we had enough time, 7 weeks in the USA, where we moved forward step by step. He became more and more confident psychologically, now he is able to do more technical elements in the ring. We continue to work on his technical skills, so that Sasha will be as complete and balanced boxer as possible”.
Povetkin thinks that his opponent Nolan is “fast and skilled boxer who likes to keep distance". According to Atlas, Povetkin has to "dictate his rules, which will force Nolan to do what we want. Sasha must use jab for that, and the right movement in the ring. When you fight such opponent as Nolan, the worse you can do is to rely on one shot".
