Fans today saw some of that appeal as we had a brilliant match up in Russia between Alexander Povetkin (27-1, 19), a former WBA Heavyweight world champion, and Manuel Charr (26-2, 15), a former WBC title challenger. Unfortunately for Charr he was up against a man with a point to prove and Povetkin looked sensational as he bounced shots off Charr's head like a speed ball in arguably the best performance of Povetkin's performance. Following a clear 6 round domination Povetkin closed the show in round 7 with a beautiful combination that is rarely seen in Heavyweight boxing today.
The victory for Povetkin will likely put him back on the WBC title scene and put him up there for the likes of Bermane Stiverne, Deontay Wilder and Carlos Takam, all three of whom would make for very good opponents with Povetkin.
There was more action in Germany with a card of Heavyweight fights. Amongst these were a 3rd round victory for Syrian born German Samir Nebo (6-1-1, 6), who maked light work of the very limited Artsiom Charniakevich (1-4, 1) from Belarus.
Another bout from Germany saw Konstantin Airich (21-8-2-1, 17) stopping Marcel Gottschalk (11-7-2, 9) in the 6th round. The limited Airich is on a good 2 fight winning streak now after losing 4 straight.
Another result from this show that we have is that Steffen Kretschmann (18-2-0-1, 16) scored a 3rd round TKO over Oezcan Cetinkaya (21-9-2, 14) to claim the German International Heavyweight title. We know Kretschmann is limited but we'd love to see him and Airich get it on later this year.
The main event from this show was a very disappointing contest between Francesco Pianeta (30-1-1, 17) and Mickael Vieira (14-4-1, 7) in a WBO European title fight. Vieira wasn't fit to be in the ring with Pianeta who needed less than a round to see off the Frenchman.
Interestingly this German show also had a small, 4 man, tournament in the Heavyweight division. This tournament saw Tom Schwarz (7-0, 5) stopping both Lukas Filka (6-4, 5) and Ante Verunica (2-1, 1) inside a round to claim the win. Verunica had made his way to the final by defeating Andre Bunga (1-2, 1).
We are big fans of Schwarz and hope that he can keep piling up wins. These might not have been notable wins but still 2 wins on the same night, both by stoppage, is pretty impressive and will help the youngster get some attention outside of just the hardcore fan base.