As boxing fans we are all too aware of mismatches which are made for one reason or another, though rarely do we consider "mandatory title fights" to be mismatches. Sadly however the upcoming WBA Heavyweight title bout between unbeaten champion Alexander Povetkin (24-0, 16) and mandatory challenger Hasim Raham (50-7-2-1, 41) appears to be nothing other than a mandatory mismatch of the highest order.
Despite once being the "the" Heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman is nothing more than a washed up has been (Hasbeen Rahman?) and is a fighter who is not only nearing 40 but is with out a noteworthy win in over 7 years.
Known as "The Rock" Rahman has been a professional since 1994 and started his career excellently with 29 straight wins before being controversially stopped by David Tua in 1998. A year later, Rahman's record had fallen to 31-2 having suffered a second stoppage loss, this time to Oleg Maskaev who knocked Rahman out of the ring.
Rahman fought back hard following his 2 losses and scored wins over the tough Marion Wilson, the late Corrie Sanders and Frankie Swindell. Following those 3 victories he signed to fight Lennox Lewis in a bout for the WBC and IBF Heavyweight titles and scored the biggest upset of 2001 by knocking Lewis out with a monster right hand. Sadly however Rahman's title reign lasted just 7 months before Lewis avenged his loss and knocked out Rahamn.
Following the loss to Lewis Rahman would struggle to restart his career and failed to win any of his next 3 bouts, losing to both Evander Holyfield (TD8) and John Ruiz (UD12) whilst drawing to David Tua in a rematch. Following these set backs at world level Rahman dropped back a level and scored a number of easier victories over a combination of journeymen and fringe level fighters before being lined up to fight Vitali Klitschko. Sadly injuries to Klitschko forced their bout to delayed numerous times, before finally forcing Klitschko to retire. Prior to Klitschko's retirement however Rahman had claimed the WBC "interim" title by defeating Monte Barrett (UD12).
After Vitali Klitschko retired Rahman was promoted to full WBC champion making just 1 successful title defense, a draw with James Toney before being knocked out of the ring for a second time by Oleg Maskaev who claimed the WBC title as a result. Since this loss Rahman has been toiling in relative obscurity barring a loss to Wladimir Klitschko in 2008, where Rahman incidentally filled in after Povetkin pulled out of the bout.
At his best Rahman was a tough and hard hitting fighter, perhaps not genuinely "world class" (despite his victory over Lennox Lewis) but certainly a credible fighter for a world title bout. His best however was some 10 years ago however and since then he has really struggled to make any sort of actual impact. It's fair to say that despite losing only one of his last 11 bouts he has been beating very low level opponents and fighters that really don't register on the world scene.
Whilst Rahman has been wasting his time with meaningless bouts in recent years Povetkin has been a busy man who advanced his professional career quickly before starting to disappoint in recent bouts.
Prior to turning professional Povetkin was an outstanding amateur and won Gold medals at the Olympics (2004), World Amateur Championships (2003) and European Championships (2004, 2002) showing himself to be a genuinely top level amateur. Due to his amateur credentials a lot was expected from him when he turned professional in 2005.
Povetkin's rise through the rankings early in his career was genuinely exceptional as he scored notable wins from the off and with in his first 10 bouts he had already beaten the likes of Friday Ahunanya, Livin Castillo and Imamu Mayfield. His rise continued over his next 5 fights and he quickly became the IBF #1 contender thanks to victories over Chris Byrd and Eddie Chambers. At this point he was the hottest thing in Heavyweight.
Sadly since becoming the #1 IBF Povetkin's career has been awfully disappointing, notably by his refusal to actually fight the IBF's champion Wladimir Klitschko which has left many boxing fans thinking he is somewhat a chicken. Instead of facing Klitschko as far back as 2008 Povetkin instead chose to face some very poor opponents such as Taurus Sykes, Javier Mora and Nicolai Firtha.
In 2011 Povetkin finally fulfilled some of his early career promise as he claimed the WBA Heavyweight title by defeating former champion Ruslan Chagaev, though most knew that the WBA title was really a paper title as Wladimir Klitschko had won the WBA "Super" title at Heavyweight. Despite calls, once again, for Povetkin to face Klitschko, the Russian instead choose to face aging American Cedric Boswell before defending against Cruiserweight Marco Huck (in what was an enthralling bout).
Povetkin is a durable fighter and he has solid skills as well as a solid engine but sadly he doesn't seem to do anything fantastically. His skills from the amateurs don't seem to be that sharp, he's not particularly fast and he's not a fighter who has shown any true 1-punch KO power. If anything his strength was his desire early in his career but even that seems to have dropped off in recent bouts.
Despite being a talented fighter Povetkin has disappointed us in his choice of opposition in recent years and whilst we're willing to admit that he is fighting a mandatory opponent in Hasim Rahman this is another poor match for Povetkin. I'd genuinely be shocked if Povetkin struggled here and would happily put money on his scoring a stoppage over Rahman, who will hopefully bow out of the sport following this bout.
Prediction-Povetkin TKO7
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