Michael Hunter will be hunting for another knockout win when he faces former WBA heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin.
The contest will be part of the undercard to the Andy Ruiz vs. Anthony Joshua rematch, which is scheduled to take place at the Diriyah Arena in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Saturday December 7.
Both boxers was coming back from big wins. Povetkin (35-2, 24 KOs) returns from his August triumph over Hughie Fury, while Hunter (18-1, 12 KOs) dominated another Russian fighter, unbeaten Sergey Kuzmin.
Hunter has picked up six wins at heavyweight since moving up from cruiserweight, with four of those wins coming inside the distance. He made a statement last year with a stoppage win over Martin Bakole and then took down the much bigger Alexnander Ustinov.
Povetkin will be far from an easy task. The Olympic gold medal winner has only been defeated by Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko throughout his career.
“This is a very exciting opportunity for me, and I have got to prove myself once again,” said Hunter. “Whether you’re the underdog or the favourite it’s all the same because I feel like I am the best fighter out there!
“I look at this fight with Povetkin as my ‘gold medal’ fight. I was in the Olympics and so was he, he won the gold medal and I didn’t so this is basically my gold medal fight right here. I am always pushing for the KO!
“I thrive on making guys quit so I’m definitely going to push for it. I am a boxer first though and I’m certainly going to be boxing his shoes off! If I see any quit in him then I am going to take advantage of that.”
