By Cliff Rold

Fight fans hoping for the real chops of a World Heavyweight championship showdown could finally have their wish fulfilled.  The best Heavyweight in the world versus the brightest rising star?  It might be just what the division needs.

Or it might turn to be a chance to go to bed on December 13th wondering if a prime chop was taken off the grill too soon. 

As reported here at BoxingScene on Tuesday, it’s official.  IBF/WBO Heavyweight titlist Wladimir Klitschko (51-3, 45 KO) will defend against his IBF mandatory Alexander Povetkin (16-0, 12 KO).  Povetkin entered 2008 hailed as the division’s most promising new face fresh off a dominant win in 2007 over former titlist Chris Byrd.  Two fights later, with a decision win against then-undefeated American Eddie Chambers and a walkover with journeyman Taurus Sykes this year, he’ll stand across the ring from the man universally hailed as the best in the game right now.

Sure, Klitschko has his issues; he’d been damaged by some lesser lights.  But Klitschko has earned his place with nine straight wins and, when his jab and right hand are working, he’s as dangerous as any fighter alive.  Povetkin is a guy with sixteen pro fights. 

There are some solid building block wins in those sixteen; it’s not a bad run for a short resume.  He’s faced some tomato cans, but he’s also mixed in a solid assortment of old war horses and solid veterans as well.  His people have moved him like a prize prospect with his amateur credentials should be moved.  Povetkin has never faced a fighter with a losing record, something very few fighters can say as they head into their first title shot.

Amateur credentials are one of the points this fight can be sold on if the experience gap is ignored.  Klitschko, before he won three major belts, was a 1996 Gold Medalist in the Super Heavyweight division.  Povetkin equaled the feat in 2004.  Since the first Super Heavyweight Olympic competition took place in 1984, only once have two Gold Medalists gone on to face each other in the paid ranks.

The first time was a rematch from those 1984 Games, won by American Tyrell Biggs.  In 1991, he faced then rising contender Lennox Lewis, whom he’d defeated on the road to Gold in Los Angeles.  Lewis had grown up a lot in the seven years since, winning his own Gold Medal during his second Olympic appearance in 1988.  He disposed of Biggs in three rounds and continued on towards the more storied elements of his career.

This second clash of Olympic titans will be different.  It’s no stepping stone fight.  It’s the whole enchilada (or some other similar cliché; pick one).  So it will have that going for it.  It will also have an unmistakable air of politics.

Politics and Boxing cross paths more often than is the case in most other sports.  There’s something about warriors and flags and blood and ten counts.  Regular readers of non-Boxing news, oil market watchers too, could explain pretty easy just how much love is shared these days between Russia and Ukraine.  In two words: not much.  Klitschko is Ukrainian; Povetkin is Russian.  It might not be Louis-Schmeling here in the States, but given the state of the globe it could certainly become something like it overseas.  Anytime Boxing can be described in terms transcending the ring, the game is healthy in the build to the opening bell.

Taking it back to what happens after the bell rings.  While the number of fights on each mans ledger wildly favors a 32-year old Klitschko who still appears near the peak of his physical gifts, the calendar is a narrower gap.  Povetkin is already 29 years old, a number that underlines his rapid movement.  Considering he didn’t even turn pro until almost a full year after his Athens triumph, punching paid for the first time in August 2005, this is a rocket-like ascent towards the crown.

It says one of two things: either his handlers think they’ve got a winner or think they don’t and want to cash out before the roof caves in.  Mandatory or not, Povetkin is being thrown into a ‘come hell or high water scenario.’  Even if he’s got the tools to pull it off, he still might not and walk away kicking himself.

In the early 1980’s, both Tim Witherspoon and Carl Williams pushed the great Larry Holmes to the wall, Witherspoon losing a split decision in his sixteenth fight and Williams dropping unanimously if gamely by decision in his seventeenth.  Both men would have been well served to have had more seasoning. 

Perhaps the old Iron Curtain kept those cautionary tales at bay. 

Of course Klitschko doesn’t come with the heart and chin bona fides of Holmes, and Povetkin can crack, so maybe caution in this case is the sucker bet.

Who knows what we’ll get in December.  Povetkin is being handed a massive assignment, and being asked to absorb an even more massive learning curve.  Unlike too many Heavyweight fights in recent vintage, it’s got elements worth thinking about.  For a division in dark days, it won’t be a bad thing.

Speaking of divisions…

A New Trophy Needed?

Fighter…Fight…Round…Upset…Prospect of the year.

These are some of the dominant topics come the end of each year, the centerpieces of year-end awards.  It’s only September, but already each has strong candidates.  With four months to go, it’s hard to imagine anything knocking off Israel Vasquez-Rafael Marquez III for fight or Kendall Holt-Ricardo Torres for round. 

It’s not hard to imagine that it might be time for a new consideration.

There will always be those who lament Boxing’s seventeen weight classes being as much as nine too many.  With the plethora of belts out there, the case for seventeen making Boxing almost impossible for new fans to embrace can be made.  It doesn’t make it true, but I digress.

The point being made here was really made on Saturday and Monday in Marquez-Casamayor and overseas in Japan.  The former featured yet another stellar Lightweight clash in 2008; the latter featured a reportedly solid Jr. Bantamweight showdown between former titlist and current top tenner Nobuo Nashiro and fellow top ten contender Kohei Kono.  Nashiro won, for those who are interested but, well, Dear God how many times will top ten guys face off at 135 and 115 this year.  

Not how many times will top ten guys make appearances; we’re talking head-to head clashes.  Lightweight may be capped out for the year considering the crowded calendar but Jr. Bantamweight still has another unification clash on tap between Cristian Mijares and Vic Darchinyan in November and then a Fernando Montiel-Z Gorres rematch in December.

Come the holiday season, it’s time to add another flavor the year-end discussion.  Boxing’s punditry needs to find a way to recognize this sort of derring-do apart from individual fighters and fights.  It’s time to start letting fans know which division, which one of seventeen, really stood out from the crowd.   

Division of the year. 

Think of it like the best ensemble awards at the Golden Globes, only with more lacerations and sweat.

Also sure to generate some of those elements…

Punchy in Panama

Flying well below the radar, perhaps while loyal reader’s eyes are locked on this page, Panama City, Panama has a hell of an interesting Thursday card going on.  It’s funny how easy it is to forget how quality the global Boxing scene can be.  Japan’s whole card Monday (mentioned already and mentioned again below) was one example; this will be another.  It’s too much goodness to all fit on U.S. TV.

The main event isn’t as good as it is critical.  WBA Jr. Featherweight titlist Celestino Caballero (29-2, 20 KO) has to not only beat Elvis Mejia (27-7-1, 7 KO), which he should with some ease, but he can’t afford any injuries or cuts either.  Escape unscathed and he has unification on tap with WBO titlist Steve Molitor (28-0, 11 KO) in November on Showtime.

The undercard has some strong selling points.  WBA Bantamweight titlist Anselmo Moreno (22-1, 8 KO) follows up his surprising title upset of Wladimir Sidorenko in May with a defense against veteran Cecilio Santos (22-8-3, 12 KO).  Not bad, but better is two fights down the card.  Keep eyes and ears open for a potential Fight of the Year runner-up-to-Vasquez-Marquez III breaking out. 

Former IBF 115 and 118 lb. titlist Luis Perez (25-2, 16 KO) makes his first start since dropping the latter belt to Joseph Agbeko last year and faces one of Boxing better unheralded warriors, Ricardo Cordoba (33-1-2, 21 KO).  Cordoba has a decisive 2004 win over Caballero and all of his blemishes have a hint of controversy.  He lost a split decision to Thailand’s Poonsawat Kratingdaengyym in Thailand and drew twice with Sidorenko on Wladimir’s home turf of Germany.  Perez could be the 25-year old Cordoba’s stepping stone to another shot at the brass ring while at the same time being Perez’s roadblock to his own next, maybe even last chance. 

Expect the leather to fly.

But wait, there’s more, or at least there was more earlier in the week, a lot of it about Juan Manuel Marquez:

The Weekly Ledger

Cliff’s Notes…

It’s over now, but can anyone not laugh at last week’s WBC protests about judges in Mississippi for the Bradley-Cherry Jr. Welterweight title fight.  Sure, the guys appointed by the Gulf Coast locals didn’t look World title fight ready, but were they really gonna’ do worse than the WBC judges who have turned in gems over the years like the ‘draws’ in Chavez-Whitaker or Nelson-Fenech I?  Gimme’ a break...Speaking of the Showtime card and the fight wherefrom the controversy sprung, both Timothy Bradley and Edner Cherry did their best to give fans disappointed by the cancellation of Nate Campbell-Joan Guzman their money’s worth and the crowds cheers said they met the challenge.  More impressive were the post-fight interviews from both.  That kind of enthusiasm and sportsmanship in Boxing in always welcome…If it was missed, and it likely was, check those YouTube links from Monday’s Roman Gonzalez and WBA Strawweight titlist Yutaka Niida.  Niida entered the ring as Boxing longest reigning beltholder; he left with a grotesque right eye and an empty waist.  The 21-year old Gonzalez (21-0, 19 KO) is the real deal.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com