By Luke Furman

Former WBA 'regular' heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (27-1, 19 KOs) was recently removed from the WBA's rankings, but for the Russian boxer's camp that is not a problem. Povetkin had the opportunity to fight for the interim-WBA title against Luis Ortiz, but decided to fight for the WBC international championship with Manuel Charr, whom he knocked out in the seventh.

According to promoter Andrei Ryabinsky, their sole goal is to get a crack at the WBC belt. The title is currently held by Bermane Stiverne and he needs to face mandatory challenger Deontay Wilder.

"We expected that we would be outside the [WBA's] rankings. But really it was just a formality," Ryabinsky said. "We did not need a fight with Ortiz. We decided on a different, better path for us. Currently, Povetkin has a high position with the WBC and that is more important for us than the WBA."

Povetkin is expected to return on October 24th in Moscow against Carlos Takam (30-1-1, 23 KOs) for the WBC silver title.

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.