By Luke Furman
Alexander Povetkin is pleased with his most recent performance and believes that he made a big impression on the UK fans.
This past Saturday night, Povetkin knocked out Olympic bronze medal winner David Price in brutal fashion in the fifth round.
The contest took place before a crowd of nearly 80,000 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. The bout was carried on Sky Sports Box Office as part of a major pay-per-view event.
Povetkin watched the main event from ringside - as IBF, WBA, IBO world champion Anthony Joshua added the WBO title to his collection with a twelve round unanimous decision over previously undefeated Joseph Parker. It was the first time where Joshua went the full twelve round distance.
Povetkin is the mandatory challenger to Joshua in two sanctioning bodies, the WBO and WBA.
Povetkin (34-1, 24 KOs) is hoping that his mandatory shot against Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs) is next - although an army of opponents are trying to get the Russian fighter in the ring.
Like Joshua, Povetkin is an Olympic gold medal winner and a former WBA "regular" heavyweight champion.
"As a whole, I am pleased with the work (in the fight with Price), except for the moment with the knockdown, although at first I was frustrated and many things did not work. Then he quietly opened himself up and eventually I landed the punch that I worked on in sparring. I now have one desire - to fight with Joshua. This will be a good and interesting fight. I am confident in myself," said Povetkin to Vasily Konov.
"The British fans cheered for me, and I gave a lot of autographs. I did not feel anything negative, I can only thank them for their warm welcome. I took all of the necessary doping tests before and after the battle, and in Russia, and in the UK."
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.
