Andrei Ryabinsky, promoter for WBC interim-heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin, believes his boxer should retire after two more fights.
Povetkin (36-2-1, 25 KOs), an Olympic gold medal winner and former world champion, is now 41-years-old and nearing the end of the road for his career.
"I think that he needs to retire, I will try to persuade him," Ryabinsky said to Match TV.
In August, Povetkin pulled off a big upset when he knocked out Dillian Whyte in the fifth round. It was a shocking outcome, because Povetkin was dropped twice in the fourth and appeared to be on the verge of getting knocked out himself.
During the fifth, he connected with a vicious uppercut - which immediately sent Whyte down and out.
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At the time, Whyte was the WBC's mandatory challenger. In the aftermath of the loss, he exercised an immediate rematch clause.
A second meeting was booked for November 21. It was postponed when Povetkin was hospitalized with COVID-19.
The new tentative date was being targeted for January 30th. And that scenario has also been ruled, when Povetkin's handlers revealed that he was still recovering from the COVID diagnosis and was recently hospitalized for a second time.
A date in early March is more likely, says Ryabinsky.
"[Alexander] had to return to the hospital for an additional examination. The other day he was discharged and is only now starting to train. We will increase the training load in stages, under the supervision of doctors. Boxing is a serious load on the body, I will not allow Alexander's health to be risked," Ryabinsky said.
"The date [of January 30] is no longer relevant, but it will not move by much, probably to the beginning of March. I think the fight will take place in London. Negotiations are at the stage of determining the dates, everything else is already there, everything else has been agreed upon."
