Alexander Povetkin vs. David Price this Saturday

Boxingnews24.com

By Sean McDaniel

This Saturday night will be D-Day for heavyweight David Price (22-4, 18 KOs) in his make or break fight against Alexander Povetkin (33-1, 23 KOs) at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Price, 34, has the youth, size and punching power advantage over the 38-year-old Povetkin, but that’s about it.

Price can make a lot of money if he beats Povetkin. A big win over Povetkin could get Price a title shot against Anthony Joshua this year. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn will likely look to make the Price as fast as possible due to his short shelf life as a fighter. Price is being given zero chance of winning this fight.

The proof that Povetkin and his team believe Price as being a sure thing win is the fact that they took the fight in the first place. Povetkin has a guaranteed title shot against IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on the line in this fight. Surely, Povetkin wouldn’t take a risk of fighting this Saturday night if he were facing someone that had a chance of beating him like Dillian Whyte or Luis Ortiz. Price is not viewed as a serious threat, and he has himself to blame for that by not keeping his conditioning at top notch.

If Price’s stamina and chin hold out, he has a chance to beat Povetkin and put himself in position for a title shot against IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. I don’t think it’s possible for Price to fix his stamina or his chin at this point in his career. These have been problems for Price as far back as 2013 when he was beaten twice by Tony Thompson. Two years after that, Price was knocked out in the 2nd round by Erkan Teper in July 2015. To top it off, Price was knocked out last year by Christian Hammer in the 7th round in February 2017. The 6’8” Price came close to knocking out Hammer in the 5th round of that fight in dropping him on the canvas. Price could have easily finished Hammer off if he hadn’t gassed out. Price was too tired to finish the job. The way that Price faded so quickly was a surprise, because earlier in his career, he can throw a lot of punches without gassing. Nowadays, Price can no longer do that without getting extremely tired. During the height of Price’s career between 2009 and 2012, he would have been a real threat for a small heavyweight like the 6’2” Povetkin. The victories were so effortless for Price back then. He would jump on his opponents in the same way Anthony Joshua does now and knock them out in the first four rounds. At this point, Price would be at risk against the very guys that he knocked out in the past like Sam Sexton. All those easy wins Price accumulated earlier in his career might not be wins at this stage of where he’s at now.

Povetkin is a big favorite to win this fight and for good reason. He’s just a has a better pedigree than Price. Povetkin isn’t the fighter that he was four years ago when he was knocking out guys like Carlos Takam, Mike Perez, Manuel Charr and Mariusz Wach. Povetkin has aged, and he’s lost the explosiveness that he had back then. Povetkin’s age has showed in his last two fights against Christian Hammer and Andriy Rudenko. He hit those guys with everything he had, and he couldn’t hurt them. The power isn’t the same for Povetkin, and he also looks like he lost some hand speed as well.

Povetkin has won his last 7 fights. His only loss of his career came against Wladimir Klitschko in October 2013 in losing a 12 round unanimous decision. That wasn’t even a fight. The match looked like a super heavyweight vs. a cruiserweight. Povetkin was way too small for the 6’6” Wladimir, and it was uncompetitive from start to finish. Wladimir fought a smart fight by tying Povetkin up each time he came in close to try and land his shots. When on the outside, Wladimir would land jabs and move around the ring. Povetkin was knocked down four times in the fight, but he was never hurt. Wladimir had too much size, speed and power for Povetkin.

Povetkin has already earned his shot as the World Boxing Association mandatory challenger for WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. It was Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn’s idea to have Povetkin fight Price on the Joshua-Parker undercard. The reason Hearn asked Povetkin to fight on the undercard is because he wanted to help build up the Joshua-Povetkin fight to bring in more PPV buys in the UK. At least that’s official story. But at the same time, Hearn is likely holding out hope that Price can pull off the upset by beating Povetkin. A win for Price would make Hearn’s job much easier, because he could sell a fight between him and Joshua to the British fans a lot easier than a Joshua-Povetkin fight.

The keys to victory for Price:

• Start quickly

• Keep hands up

• Jab with speed

• Don’t let Povetkin crowd him

• Tie Povetkin up when he gets close

Price can’t take his time against Povetkin, because if he paces himself too much, he’ll get obliterated by the Russian fighter. Price has to start quickly look for a knockout in the first three rounds. Waiting beyond that will be a mistake, as Povetkin will start teeing off with his triple left hooks that he likes to throw.

Keys to victory for Povetkin

• Target Price’s weak chin

• Set a fast pace

• Use constant pressure

• Go for a fast knockout

If Povetkin fights at a fast-enough pace, he should be able to knockout Price quickly on Saturday. Price’s stamina has so badly in the last years. He clearly isn’t training hard enough anymore for him to keep from gassing out, because he wears down so fast at this point in his career. Price isn’t old at 34, and yet he fights like someone 10 years older than his age. The only thing I can think of it Price isn’t training hard enough any longer. I’m not sure what Price does when he’s in between fights. Price needs to be working on cardio when he’s not in camp, because his conditioning is so bad.