Soultrane

Ortiz turns 40 this month and his best win is Bryant Jennings. Yet other heavyweights are proud to last the distance against him while losing every round. Actually his best win was against the Castro regime. Guys get old. Ortiz and Povetkin should fight it out for "The Gold Watch" belt. The loser gets the gold watch and a retirement party. The winner gets one more big fight.

To be honest I never liked Fury, just because he's so ugly in the ring, and the way he got tattooed by a light heavyweight . But let's give this guy some credit. This time last year I think he weighed about 340 or 350 lbs, now he's down to 270 or so and by the time he fights Wilder he could easily be in perfect trim. I went back and watched the Wlad fight again last night, and yeah, he put on a clinic while Joshua made Wlad look good (even though he caught him in the end.) I personally have always felt Fury beats Wilder by (wide) decision, Wilder beats Joshua by KO, and Joshua beats Fury by late stoppage. Styles make fights.

I saw odds for Povetkin via decision at 28-1 Those are Buster Douglas in Tokyo numbers. I think I might drop some dough on it. You could get a years salary with that. Here's my reasoning. 1) Common Opponents. Going back to the 2004 Olympics, Povetkin beat the crap out of Cammarelle, the Italian cop. In 2012, AJ faced that same Italian cop, who I guess works a beat in between the Olympics, and was given a gift. Takam. AJ made Takam look like the return of Holyfield. I don't think he could have knocked Takam out in 20 rounds, but again, the officials gave him a gift. Povetkin knocked Takam clean out, I mean he put him to sleep. Wlad, I don't even count that... yes, if AJ just holds him the whole fight and leans on him, he'll win the decision, but if he does that, he won't be able to sell out even half of Wembley in April. 2) Styles. Yes, Povetkin is old. Yes, he must have slowed down, and yes he's off the juice (although don't discount that Ruskie scientists have come up w some new stuff that VADA doesn't even test for yet). This would be a real disadvantage against a very fast guy, like Wilder. But against a relatively stationery guy with not much footwork, I see Povetkin being able to get to the side against AJ and smash him with those hooks. AJ has a 45 degree straight ahead game, Povetkin has a 180 degree game. I think Povetkin would have beat Wilder pretty badly if that fight happened as planned, I don't think he could beat him in 2019 though. It would be roughly the same outcome as the Ortiz fight. But, in this fight, against AJ, the biggest fight of his career, the whole Russian ppl behind him, he might outpoint AJ in a 12 rounder, maybe 7 rounds to 5. Show me where I'm wrong....

Bottom line here is if Wilder signs for about $17.5 million, or some kind of flat fee, Hearn wins big, because the fight might actually do $150 million or so. Anyone who knows boxing knows the only reason Povetkin doesn't beat both of these guys is because he's too old, but I don't think anyone is too sure about that yet. Yet no casual fans know anything about him (of course not, he only won the Gold Medal, so why would they?) For Joshua to lose to Wilder w a rematch clause in place is one thing, because they will be seen as pretty even going into the fight. But, to lose to Povetkin takes ALL the air out of a fight with Wilder. I think Wilder and Joshua both know this. Might as well get this money noe.

I wonder if the reason they're taking the Breazelle fight first (if that's true) is so the William Hill's etc of the world have a better chance of setting the line. These guys only have one common opponent so the Breazelle fight will help the bookies calibrate it a bit better.