To put these two fights in a row, separated by commas, of course, is not entirely fair - their status in the career of both boxers was too different. But accident has nothing to do with it.
Alexander Povetkin, who began his professional career two years ago, conducted another, 12th rating battle. Of course, you can also stumble on a small bump on the long way to the championship title, but the guardian angels of Alexander from the German promotion company Sauerland Events are very smooth - in all the fights held in the professional ring, Povetkin has more fights than fights.
Alexander, apparently, decided to intrigue the audience a little more and didn’t go to finish Lero
Yesterday's match with Canadian Patrice Lero was no exception. Former American football player, it seemed, during the break of the next match, he looked at the light in Bamberg. To call Lero clumsy in the ring means very flattering him. For the short time that the Canadian spent yesterday in the ring, he not only did not demonstrate at least some sensible attempts to attack, but, even more characteristic, did not know how to defend himself - Lero trembled at every blow of Povetkin, as if he had hit an unprotected target .
A knockout could happen already in the first round, when after a series of blows the Russian Canadian “swam” and snuggled up to the ropes. Alexander, apparently, decided to intrigue the audience a little more, no matter how ironic it sounds, and didn’t go to finish it.
But, when in the middle of the second round, after the next missed blow, Lero froze in the eyes of the star and his body pulled the ropes with all his 122 kilograms, Povetkin conducted a long protracted series, the end of which, together with the fight, put the match referee.
Another 12 victory in the career of the Russian boxer was won, her circumstances will soon be forgotten, but questions about the prospects of the Olympic champion of Athens in the professional ring still remain. Despite all the enthusiastic epithets about Alexander and the assurance that he is a boxer without weaknesses and a future champion, there is still no real chance to check these words - not one of the 12 fights has become a serious test for Povetkin, whose experience in the future may become much more important than the number of fights held and the places occupied in any ratings.
By the tenth round, Tokarev’s battery was so drained that he barely kept his feet
I would like to hope that the next rival of the Russian heavyweight, American Monte Barrett, will be just as unstable as last year’s fight with Nikolai Valuev, and according to the results of this fight, which will be held on June 30 in Moscow, we will have no doubt about Povetkin’s prospects.
A completely different one, both in character and in plot, turned out to be a fight for another Russian Vadim Tokarev, performing in the first heavyweight. The 35-year-old boxer from Kazan went all his career to this day and rightfully could be considered the favorite in the duel for the status of the mandatory challenger for the IBF title against German of Serbian origin Marco Huka.
And Tokarev started this fight quite well, his activity forcing the 22-year-old opponent in the first rounds to defend a lot and rarely beat. It seemed that the outcome of the confrontation was not far off, and in the later rounds the Russian would finish off the exhausted German. But everything turned out almost exactly the opposite. Starting from the seventh round, when everyone was waiting for Tokarev’s final spurt, he began to lose strength every minute and miss the dangerous attacks of a more recent opponent. By the tenth round, Tokarev’s battery was so drained that he barely stood on his feet from fatigue and the fact that the fight lasted all 12 rounds could be considered a small victory. But the pedantic judges were far from emotions and, having counted the points, rightly gave the victory to Hook - 117: 110,117: 110, 114: 114. Tokarev suffered the first, but probably the most important defeat in his career. I really want Vadim to somehow tell about this experience to Sasha Povetkin.
Andrey IVANTSOV