Boxing Rostrum

When Sultan Ibragimov beat Shannon Briggs for the WBO heavyweight title, leaving all four versions of the big prize in the hands of former soviets, I suggested that the holders involved had the personal pride and natural competitiveness to want a sort out as to who is the real champ amongst them. Well, the wheels have been set in motion.

Ibragimov and WBA incumbent Ruslan Chagaev have agreed to box each other, apparently on an October date in Moscow. If it actually comes off it will be the first heavyweight unification clash of any kind since Lewis and Holyfield in 1999, and we should applaud both men for taking this initiative. Trouble is, it’s not likely to lead to what we all want.

The log jam over at the WBC will probably see to that. With Chagaev boxing Ibragimov in what could be effectively considered a semi-final, the other semi should see Wladimir Klitschko or Lamon Brewster, who have their rematch next week, putting up the IBF portion against the WBC’s Oleg Maskaev. That’s not about to happen, though, is it.

Maskaev is billed to defend the WBC crown, at long last, against his mandatory, Samuel Peter, in Madison Square Garden in October. When that’s been settled, Vitali Klitschko will eventually fight the winner. How much time will elapse between the Garden fight and Klitschko’s challenge is anybody’s guess, after which there’s the small matter of accommodating Oliver McCall who was promised a shot himself as a reward for beating Sinan Samil Sam.

Despite the obvious problems, though, there might yet be some faint hope of the matter being resolved. That would depend on Wladimir or Lamon boxing the Chagaev-Ibragimov winner in a three belt decider while the WBC gets its own house in order.

With Ibragimov against Chagaev and the Maskaev-Peter bout both slated for October, things could be set up nicely from there. Once the October dust has settled there's no reason, dates wise, why a WBA/IBF/WBO sanctioned title match shouldn’t then go on around the same time Vitali Klitschko is challenging for his old WBC crown.

That would cut it down to just the two claimants and the fantastic prospect of a fight for it all. Optimism gone mad, I know, but if things did get that far – and there is just that possibility now that the first move has been made – momentum would cause the big one to happen, irrespective of assurances to Oliver McCall or any other potential spanners in the works.

Unless the finalists turned out to be the Klitschko brothers!

We now know who will box John Duddy in Dublin on July 14th on a card billed as “The Homecoming.” Limited Italian trier Alessio Furlan has got the job. That choice of opponent is in keeping with the Duddy career blueprint.

Let’s face it, Furlan (19-8-5) is not the calibre of fighter who’s going to beat a world class middleweight. Nor is he the calibre of fighter who’s going to beat a John Duddy.

I’m on record as being an admirer of the people behind Duddy, and of what’s been accomplished on his behalf. The boxer has somehow been manouevred into a top ten spot with the WBA, IBF, and WBO. And the WBC has him just outside the ten. That’s quite a feat by Team Duddy. Despite having run his unblemished log to twenty straight wins, just who has the Irishman beaten to merit such a ranking. The honest answer is nobody.

Worthy of it or not, though, once a boxer gets rated that high the expectations change. Had Duddy stayed in New York the pressure would now be on for him to face some of the steel in the middleweight division. This move to Ireland under the guise of a long standing ambition to box professionally in his homeland has distanced Duddy from that sort of heat and allows his team to keep putting him in with the same sort of average pug he’s been feeding on so far.

Although leaving the States amounts to pulling him out of the firing line, so to speak, John Duddy has still been presented back on home soil as a middleweight sensation who’s on a mission to conquer the world. And it looks like they’re going to keep him busy with the aim of having his countrymen buy into that dream. After Dublin, Duddy is provisionally booked to appear at the King’s Hall, Belfast six weeks later. If he can attract the right volume of support from the start, and the interest then snowballs, as it might well, the campaign will have achieved its objective – keep him earning while building an Irish fan base to complement and exceed what Duddy already has in New York, so that if he does have to get thrown to the wolves in a genuine middleweight title fight the pain of defeat will be cushioned by a handsome rake in from pay-per-view in both Gotham and the Emerald Isle. Business is business.

I had their plot figured out, or thought I did, but it now turns out I wasn’t up to speed at all. There’s to be no waiting for the long term hit. They’re giving things an immediate transatlantic test by making Duddy’s clash with Furlan available for PPV broadcast to the States. No way did I see that one coming.

Seems wishful thinking to expect enough people will fork out for an armchair view to make the TV arrangements even profitable, let alone a moneyspinner, but they obviously feel that Duddy fans in New York will be suffering withdrawal symptoms badly enough in his absence to have them buy the Dublin action. If by chance that turns out to be right, and the returns are any way healthy, stand by for a whole string of similar type gigs, with all thoughts of Jermain Taylor and the likes put firmly to one side. And why not. Nothing wrong with getting rich in medium size doses.

I believe John Duddy will be beaten, comprehensively, if he tangles with any of the real world class middleweights on the scene today. And I don’t believe he can improve as a fighter to the point where that wouldn’t still hold true in the future. Although they’d never admit it openly, of course, I suspect Duddy’s camp see things the same way. Hence the chosen path.

Like I said, they’re doing a great job for their fighter.

Forty eight years ago today, Ingemar Johansson battered Floyd Patterson to the floor seven times in the third round of a title fight at Yankee Stadium and boxing had a new heavyweight champion.

These days both Patterson and Johansson are considered to have been mediocre champions, and maybe they were, but there’s no denying that their rivalry had the world in thrall for the best part of two years back then.

The fight, or the manner of its ending, caused a sensation. Seven knockdowns in a round were something that hadn’t been seen at that level since Dempsey did the same thing to Willard, and then Firpo, some four decades before. Ingemar was suddenly a superstar. He and his then fiancée, Birgit Lundgren, had a glamour about them that the media latched on to and they became the celebrity couple of the moment, being feted everywhere during his one year reign.

Ingemar loved that champion, champagne lifestyle but it ended when a brooding, driven Floyd knocked him out at the Polo Grounds a year later, Johansson laid flat and cold on the floor with his left leg famously twitching throughout the count.

The rubber match at Miami Beach saw Floyd dropped twice in the opener but coming back to knock Ingo down also before that first round had ended. Never a dull moment. Not true, really. Patterson was in control from there and Johansson, blowing and fading fast, was flattened in the sixth. Trilogy over.

The Swede wasn’t a great boxer, or fighter, but he could punch with that right hand of his. That’s what the record says, and the old films, and the memory too if you’re old enough to have been around to see it.

Over the years, though, some have seen fit to play down Johansson’s power. Bert Sugar, the man in the hat, is one of those to have written that Ingo’s Bingo was an overrated punch.

The fact that Floyd Patterson got up seven times in one round after being nailed by it is supposed to be proof of Sugar’s view. But have you ever heard anybody say Dempsey can’t have been that much of a hitter because Jess Willard climbed off the deck seven times in the first round at Toledo in 1919, as did Luis Angel Firpo in the Polo Grounds four years later? Neither have I.

Johansson knocked out, and I mean knocked out, Henry Cooper in a European title fight. He had done the same to Italy’s Franco Cavicchi in winning that crown and, in his penultimate career outing, he poleaxed rugged Welshman Dick Richardson to reclaim the Euro title. Ingemar’s right hand hurt everything it touched.

The then top contender Eddie Machen was touched by it when he went to Gothenburg in 1958 and didn’t make it through the opening round. Machen was counted out the third time he hit the deck. He just got overwhelmed.

Two years later that same Eddie Machen lost a twelve rounder by decision to Sonny Liston. Sonny had three points deducted for low blows in that fight and you’d have to feel for Machen because Liston was murderous enough as it was without having his fists invade the sensitive zone. Yet Machen, though clearly beaten, didn’t at any stage look in danger of folding.

Four years after that, shop worn and past it, Eddie Machen still lasted into the tenth and final round against a relentless youngster called Joe Frazier. Even then, he was on his feet when rescued. Nobody else ever did to him what Johansson did that night in Sweden.

Never mind its detractors. I say that Ingemar Johansson’s right hand was one of boxing’s top single weapons. No heavyweight, including today’s extra large variety, would want to be in its path. Believe that.

Too bad that Monte Barrett won’t be in the opposite corner, as was originally scheduled, when we get our next look at Alexander Povetkin’s burgeoning talent on Saturday in Moscow. Barrett would have shown him a trick or two for sure. Replacement Larry Donald, though, can make it an educational exercise just the same.

For some obscure reason he’s known as Larry “The Legend” Donald – thereby taking the art of creative nicknames to another level – and he’s a forty year old who hasn’t boxed for the best part of two years, so Povetkin should work him over good and proper, which I’m sure he will. But veteran Larry knows plenty about the art of self defence. Only Vitali Klitschko has stopped him, and that took ten rounds.

Riddick Bowe, Kirk Johnson, and Nikolay Valuev have beaten him too, but by decision. Of those, even Riddick Bowe, who was still a top man at the time, never looked like stopping him and in his most recent outing Larry lost a majority verdict to Valuev who thereby earned the right to box John Ruiz for the WBA title.

Winning the fight itself is all that matters but winning with rounds unused against an expert defender like Donald would be no mean achievement for Povetkin in just his thirteenth outing.

I rate the Russian highly. In a heavyweight division that boasts many honest triers but not much quality, Alex stands out for me. He’s a natural who loves to fight and has the tools to excel at it, and I don’t see anybody around who’ll be able to stop him from becoming the champ, given another four or five nurturing fights.

Learning is the key. That’s why, despite his age, Larry Donald is an acceptable opponent for Alexander Povetkin right now. I think Povetkin will become the second man to beat Donald inside the distance, probably late in the fight, but more importantly will come out of the ring armed with boxing knowledge he didn’t have before.

Ricky Hatton had a nasty edge about him alright. The Manchester nice guy had already turned into Mr Hyde after the weigh in with his cry to the Brit support of “See you all tomorrow … let’s have him”, and he kept that mood right through to releasing the crippling body shot that did for Jose Luis Castillo in round four.

It was an overwhelming performance. Castillo had come to fight, as ever, and found himself in his preferred trench warfare environment, but Hatton bossed this all the way. Even in the hot actioned third round, which I thought Castillo took with accurate counter punches, Ricky looked physically dominant and the session ended with him attacking the Mexican on the ropes.

The finishing blow was a killer. Castillo has proved his courage again and again in the ring but he wasn’t coming back from that.

I don’t see how Ricky Hatton could have done anything in this fight much better than he did. He put the pressure on from the off, but it was controlled pressure as promised, and Castillo couldn’t cope with it. Kostya Tszyu had seemed surprised at how quickly Hatton closes the range when he attacks, and Jose Luis must have got himself a similar shock here, while he was probably dismayed also by the way Ricky was able to bully him in the messy early mauls which drew a lecture for both from ref Joe Cortez.

What surprised me most – apart from the ease of Hatton’s victory, something I wouldn’t have believed beforehand – was seeing Castillo off balance so often, turned sideways on to Ricky, and looking at times a clumsy fighter, which he certainly isn’t. All brought about by the brilliance, on the night, of Ricky Hatton.

Some said Kostya Tszyu was a shot fighter when Hatton beat him in Manchester. Some will now say he’s just beaten another in Jose Luis Castillo. None of that holds up for me.

Tszyu had been a strong favourite to beat Ricky. Most people in the game picked Tszyu by a knockout. Many thought he would outclass Hatton altogether. It turned out to be a great fight, though, and it takes two for that. A shot fighter couldn’t possibly have produced the performance Kostya did that night, and a lesser man than Ricky would have got a beating.

As for last night’s fight, how many of those who might now claim that Castillo was a spent force going in there were saying that at the end of the third round. Sure, Ricky was the on top guy but Castillo had at least found a bit of rhythm in that session and got some clean and clever strikes in. With the Mexican a proven stayer, and Hatton having been seen to fade late on in his two most recent bouts, there was plenty of tension around going into the fourth and it seemed that the advantage could yet swing either way. But Ricky kept his foot down and got the job done spectacularly.

The sight of a man who had never been over in sixty three fights taking a knee, and in so much pain that he stayed there all through and beyond the count, was quite sensational.

Ricky Hatton has done something that Mayweather and many others have never come close to doing.

So, what next? They’re already talking De La Hoya, Mayweather, Mosley, Cotto. There’d be huge money in any of those jobs, and he seems sure to meet one of them sooner or later, but a logical step might be to take Malignaggi in New York. Paulie is the native son there, has acquired the IBF nod as champion, and he and Hatton would sell out the Garden for sure. And it would give Ricky the chance to get one over on Miguel Cotto. Cotto dropped Malignaggi and did him a lot of damage along the way but couldn’t stop him, so if Ricky could cut Paulie down, the point made would only enhance his reputation, which is already sky high, and his future bargaining position.

Fighting Malignaggi would also keep Hatton at light welter. The big names mentioned are all at welter or above and it shouldn’t be forgotten that Ricky’s only previous attempt at welterweight was hardly an unqualified success. He beat Luis Collazo but it was more a case of getting away with it than of emerging triumphant. Plenty thought Hatton lost that night. The training regime that was supposed to let him carry the extra weight while bringing his speed and venom up with him didn’t achieve its aim and the whole thing became a terrible struggle. Better than that would be needed to trouble Mayweather and company.

All that’s for the future, though. For now, let’s salute Ricky Hatton, the best light welterweight in the world, bar none. He came in last night in fantastic condition and destroyed Jose Luis Castillo, showing malicious intent and vicious delivery. Can’t praise him enough. For the time it lasted, we were looking at a really great fighter.

Tonight we’re going to find out how much his fabled war with Diego Corrales took out of Jose Luis Castillo.

He’s fought just three times since, without once having to reach too far inside himself, but that’s something Castillo will surely have to do against Ricky Hatton.

Hatton has been made a strong favourite on the books. I can understand why. He’s still unbeaten and he’s the younger, fresher man, looks the stronger of the two, and is probably quicker than Castillo as well. The most impressive thing about Hatton right now, though, is his demeanour. He’s got a nasty edge about him this time that’s different from what I’ve seen in him before, almost like that exuded by Lennox Lewis prior to his annihilation of Hasim Rahman. Ricky’s in the mood to do damage.

So is Castillo. The Mexican has had a lot of wear and tear and may be on the wrong side of the hill but he carries huge experience and fierce weaponry. Jose Luis also has those two priceless commodities, a great chin, and an iron will. That’s an area where Castillo could have the edge. Hatton can match the Mexican for heart and desire but, while Castillo has never been down in his sixty three fights, the Brit was knocked over by Eamonn Magee in the opening round and also badly shaken in the second round of that same bout. And we all saw how he was nearly jack-knifed by body shots in his last outing against Juan Urango.

Magee had Ricky down from a left hook, and Jose Luis owns a great one of those. He’s also a vicious body puncher.

Barring an unexpected quick ending, Hatton will have to box clever to have his way tonight. He has the ability to do that. His movement and speed in the first four rounds of the Urango job were impressive, even allowing that Urango is slow and technically lacking, and he needs to show those boxing skills again tonight against a savvy warrior who doesn’t come up short in the technical department. Ricky knows that well enough himself, of course, but Billy Graham has kept banging on about it anyway because, with massive British support on hand, there’ll be a real temptation for Hatton to steam in regardless just to please them.

I hope Hatton will take the pragmatic view and go in there to apply, in his own words, educated pressure. I’ll pick him to win on that basis, but must admit to a nagging vibe that Ricky’s style of fighting, disciplined or otherwise, might suit Castillo just fine. With Hatton coming on to him in a way that most fighters never would, there’s a chance that Jose Luis can have the champ in trouble early with those withering hooks of his. I almost expect Hatton to hit the deck some time in the first three rounds and, if that were to happen, we’ll then find out what calibre of a champion he really is.

Paulie "Magic Man" Malignaggi’s capture of the IBF light welter title from Lovemore Ndou on Saturday wasn’t exactly an applecart job but the way he did it takes some believing.

Ndou is not the world’s greatest but he’s an able fighter who has put in worthy efforts against the likes of Cotto and Junior Witter, both of whom he bothered at various times in their fights. Last time up, Lovemore had stopped the useful Naoufel Ben Rabah after eleven attritional rounds of an IBF eliminator and was awarded the IBF belt retrospectively when Ricky Hatton chose to fight Castillo rather than defend against him. The evidence suggested Malignaggi was going in here with a Lovemore Ndou who was pretty much as good as he's ever been.

If it looked a stiff test on paper, though, Paulie paid no heed. The fight was a shut out on two of the cards and even the judge who gave Ndou a couple of rounds still had Malignaggi ten points clear at the end. Ndou was even decked by a right in the ninth, taking things beyond mere magic into the realms of the miraculous. As a rule, Malignaggi’s best punch would need more than one try just to burst a soap bubble.

So, all of a sudden, Paulie Malignaggi is a major player in the light welter division. It’s just a year ago since he challenged Miguel Cotto for the WBO title in what represented a huge step up from the company he had previously been keeping, and he took a beating, physically. Dropped in the second, Paulie got up and went on to survive a gash over his left eye and a broken cheek bone that balloneed the right side of his face, but never once stopped trying to turn the tide his way. He lost the decision but proved he has a champion’s heart. Now he has shown he has a champion’s skills.

I still think Malignaggi would struggle to ward off the likes of Hatton or Castillo, but he deserves his place in the limelight for however long it lasts. And while he’s there maybe he can do boxing a favour. Cotto and Judah sold out the Garden nine days ago, which was like old times, and maybe Brooklynite Paulie, against the right opponent, can do the same thing.

Never mind Las Vegas. The sport of boxing has only one Mecca, and you don’t find it in the desert.

Sinan Samil Sam did the best he could but it wasn’t enough to beat Oliver McCall in Ankara. The cards were unanimous for Ollie who has been guaranteed a shot at the WBC title once Oleg Maskaev and Sam Peter have fought each other and the winner has entertained Vitali Klitschko.

It’s all very well being promised a title fight but McCall is 42 years old and could be 44 by the time that tedious triangular business gets sorted. He can hardly afford to just sit around waiting. The Turks want McCall to fight Sam again and, after last night’s triumph, it’s surely an offer that Oliver won’t refuse.

Sinan Samil Sam’s performance showed again that he’s below the top level, but, if that’s something we already knew, the disappointment was in his not being able to at least out-do McCall for energy in the second half of the fight. Against a guy ten years older than himself, you’d have expected that much.

A rematch wouldn’t figure to be any different from what we had here, given that both men can fight just the one way, but it seems the Turkish people would flock to see their man try to avenge his loss and it could be lucrative indeed for both men if they put it on at one of their football grounds.

Oliver McCall would be putting his promised title shot in jeopardy by doing the encore but whether it’s he or Sinan who comes out on top next time won’t matter anyway. While either man might challenge for a world title, neither man is going to win one.

Sinan Samil Sam boxes Oliver McCall in Ankara tonight and it’s being touted as maybe the biggest occasion in Turkish boxing history. Doesn’t say much for the history of Turkish boxing, does it.

Doesn’t say much for the world heavyweight division either that the winner of this will likely end up, on the strength of his victory, as the WBC number one contender, once the Maskaev-Peter-Klitschko situation has run its course.

Sam isn’t a good enough fighter to be a world heavyweight champion, while the venerable McCall is too far gone, pugilistically, to become one again.

Whatever the significance, or otherwise, of tonight’s contest, though, it does have a weird kind of fascination.

The two protagonists are solid fighters, particularly old man McCall. If you had to pick a genuine hard case from today’s active heavies, he’d be it, notwithstanding his advanced age.

Oliver McCall can hurt anybody he hits right, and nobody takes a shot better. Even at forty two he commands respect, but he’s a slow motion practitioner now and would surely be out-manoeuvred and outscored by any youngish heavy who can step lively and sharp shoot from long range. The good news for Ollie is that Sinan Samil Sam doesn’t fit that profile.

The Turk is tough and strong and a decent puncher, but he’s had a speed bypass in the footwork department. Sinan’s method is to shuffle forward in six inch instalments and look to grind the enemy down, and most times it works because he’s stronger and more persistent than the guy he’s fighting. But that method has let him down when confronted by accomplished boxers.

Just as well for both guys, then, that this evening they’ll each be in with someone who won’t take a lot of finding.

Sinan Samil Sam will have huge backing on the night and it should inspire him to his optimum performance. That kind of atmosphere could turn McCall on too, but it might just as easily cause his mind to opt out, as in the past. There’s nothing fragile about Oliver, physically, but he’s had to overcome problems in his head and you couldn’t be sure they won’t return

Logic suggests Sam should be victorious. Being ten years the younger man and boxing at home represent big advantages, and he must be favoured to make the most of them, but the fanatical Turkish support could also be his undoing if Sinan gets too fired up, and reckless on the strength of it. Despite being a rough and tough guy he doesn’t have a bomb proof chin. And McCall, lacking in flair but full of savvy, will be waiting for Sam to make mistakes in there.

The Bull from Bosporus got dropped by the last punch of his fight against Japanese based Ugandan, Peter Okhello, two years ago. The bell ended the fight almost as soon as he hit the deck. Sam picked himself up to accept a comfortable points decision and, in the aftermath, nobody seemed to attach much significance to the knockdown, but it has stayed in my memory because of the effect that punch had on the Turk. If Okhello could have hit him one more time, Sam would have been knocked out.

Coming into Saturday, Oliver McCall is unbeaten in ten but it’s a misleading stat because he hasn’t fought anybody useful in that run apart from Juan Carlos Gomez, who gave McCall a boxing lesson but later had the win taken away when the unanimous decision in his favour was changed to no contest after the post fight drug test showed he’d been shoving coke up his beak. Oliver hasn't beaten what you'd call a noted fighter since he came from a lost cause on the cards to knock out Henry Akinwande in the tenth and final round some five and a half years ago.

Sinan Samil Sam is a good fighter, but one who loses to the top level guys. Oliver McCall used to be the Atomic Bull, but is now an old man who might be still fighting only because he doesn’t know what else to do in life.

I’d quite like to see Ollie come out on top, even though I don’t think he will, but it would be best for the sport if Sinan prevails. Sam has somehow become a national hero despite never having won in world class company, and if he can get a whole country hooked on boxing by doing more of the same in beating what’s left of Oliver McCall, we should all be glad. The game needs all the fresh support it can get.

Miguel Cotto may or may not be the best welterweight in the world right now but he has to be the most exciting. There’s a vulnerability about Cotto that sees him hurt quite often, badly so at times, and his fights have become such compelling viewing because of the way he reacts to those crisis moments and goes on to get it done regardless.

Zab Judah gave it all he had last night and just got beaten by a better fighter, but he still had Cotto’s fans chewing them to the bone more than once when finding the mark with serious punches. And in title matches down at light welter, Corley and Torres both had Miguel doing the Saturday night walk before eventually bowing to the Puerto Rican’s own withering power.

If you like boxing you have to be a Cotto fan. If you’re usually indifferent to boxing, watching Cotto in action could still get you out of your chair. He’s now where Arturo Gatti used to be in terms of dishing out ring thrills but, while both have brought to the sport similar excitement qualities, Miguel is already a more accomplished fighter than Arturo ever was.

A fight between Cotto and the survivor of Margarito v Williams would be another guaranteed slugfest but it would be nice to see Miguel in more of a boxing match for once, and the prospect to savour is Miguel Cotto against Mosley. That could be a thriller too, but there would be a lot of thinking going on in there. Sugar Shane’s skills and speed, and experience, would present Miguel with a different set of problems to any he has yet come across and I'd be fascinated to see how he'd go about the business of solving them.

The Big Pineapple couldn’t give New Yorkers something to be happy about this time. There was to be no repeat of the last second miracle he’d produced against Lyakhovich, and precious little else either from defending “champ” Shannon Briggs as he tamely gave up his WBO belt to Sultan Ibragimov.

All credit to the Russian. He fought a thinking fight and didn’t let the bigger Briggs do much at all. It was probably, in terms of discipline, his best performance to date.

So now the former soviet block has all four heavyweight titles in its keep, and maybe that’s a good thing for the immediate future of the division. In the old days of communism, and amateur boxing, it would have been necessary for the likes of Ibragimov (Russian), Ruslan Chagaev (Uzbek), Wladimir Klitschko (Ukranian), and Oleg Maskaev from Kazakhstan to compete against each other for just the one spot on the soviet team sent to Olympic, World, or European championships. That situation could yet be replicated in the pros. The money men may want otherwise, in which case it won’t happen, (and Maskaev has to face Sam Peter, who could well defeat him ), but I reckon the four fighters themselves, given the opportunity, have enough pride to want to sort out which of them is the real daddy.

One year from now, though, whoever rules the roost is going to have something fierce heading his way in the shape of another Russian, Alexander Povetkin. Povetkin is already more than just a prospect. He was an exceptional Olympic champion in my book but is much better suited to the pros than the amateurs and I visualize him chopping down a lot of high ranked guys between now and a title chance. I can then see him chopping down the titlist too, whichever it may be.

At his present stage of development Povetkin has the perfect opponent next time up in Monte Barrett. If you’re aspiring to be a world champ you don’t lose to Monte Barrett, but you do learn from being in the ring with him. Monte’s a crafty so and so, full of courage, and carries a hefty wallop. Get overconfident and make a mistake and Barrett can take advantage with hurtful counters. Even in his losing fights, Monte usually has his moments, so if Alex can dominate and not allow him even mini successes along the way it will be another big step forward. I think he’ll do exactly that. Povetkin for champ inside eighteen months. That’s what my mouth says. And my cash.