By Rick Reeno

Vladimir Hyrunov was dropping some verbal punches after reading a recent article on BoxingScene.com, where Greg Cohen, promoter for former two-time heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman (50-7-2, 42KOs), expressed his anger at some of the recently published statements from Hyrunov, who manages WBA "regular" world heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (24-0, 16KOs).

In a recent article on BoxingScene, Hyrunov took a shot at Rahman's physical condition at a recent press conference that took place in Germany. The two sides came together to announce their fight for September 29th in Hamburg. The WBA ordered Povetkin to face Rahman, the organization's mandatory challenger.

"The greatest impression that Rahman made on me were his physical dimensions. He looks like he has a contract with a famous American fast food restaurant chain," Hyrunov said.

Cohen fired back on Monday.

"Those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. [Hyrunov] should look in the mirror. He doesn't look so good. Hasim looks a lot better than him," Cohen told BoxingScene.com.

"When we went over there and his photo was not on the posters.....Hasim flew 15 hours and I flew 10. They do a whole video on Povetkin, nothing on Hasim. He's not on the posters. It was one disrespectful thing after the next. And now his manager is making nasty claims and statements. All of these things are going to come back to bite them. They are waking up a sleeping dog and you should let sleeping dogs lie. My fighter is working his ass off for this opportunity. He's going to shock the world again. I'm not just saying it as a promoter. I believe it."

Hyrunov explained the controversy over the promotional posters and he also had some words for Cohen.

"Greg, the promoter is not supposed to look pretty, and that's why you're working as a promoter as well," Hyrunov said to BoxingScene.com. 

"This was the problem with the posters. All we had were old photos of Rahman. But you have to realize that he got so fat now, that nobody would have recognized him from his current photo. We asked him to take off his shirt to take a photo and he refused. If we would have placed his old photo on the fight posters, and then the fans would look at him now - we would have been called liars and the fans would have asked for refunds and said 'that's not him, Povetkin is fighting a different guy.' We offered to take his photo but he refused to take his shirt off because his belly was sagging down to his knees."