POVETKIN DESTROYS WAWRZYK IN THREE
Crocus City Hall, Moscow - WBA "regular" heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (26-0, 18KOs) destroyed previously undefeated Andrzej Wawrzyk (27-1, 13KOs) in three rounds on Friday. After an slow first round, Povetkin opened up in the second with a hard right hand to drop Wawrzyk hard. Wawrzyk beat the count and took punishment until the bell. In the third Povetkin dropped Wawrzyk two more times with hard lefts and rights to force the stoppage. Wawrzyk was cut, bloody and hurt when the referee saved him from further punishment.
Povetkin looked very determined, put his punches together in fast but deadly combinations (mostly combining his left uppercut with his left hook). Finally, he found a room for a huge straight right hand in the second round, which landed squarely on the Pole's whiskers. And down went Wawrzyk. He did jump up at the count of "two" by referee Russell Mora, which wasn't a smart move at all. Povetkin went into kill mode but failed to finish Wawrzyk off in the second stanza. However, the Pole was bleeding profusely from his nose after this round.
The third stanza proved to be the last one. Povetkin started off a bit slowly, looking at the effects of the thunderous second stanza. Then he went for the finish. Another right hand rocked Wawrzyk but he managed to retain his upright position. But the Povetkin stormed in, swinging furiously at the shaken Pole. After another right hand from the Russian "Vityaz" (Russian word for a "Knight") he almost went down but didn't touch the ground because of the ropes. Mora correctly ruled it a knockdown. With his face being a bloody mess at this point, Wawrzyk had little left but bravely continued to fight and to take punishment. Soon, it was finished for good. Alexander landed several more punches, including a pair of left hooks, which had Wawrzyk down squarely on his back. Russell Mora didn't bother to count and wawed it off at 2:23 of the third round.
"I just wanted to show some offensive arsenal", commented Povetkin right afterwards. "I trained for a longer fight but, well, it has ended pretty fast."
"I planned for Sasha to knock him [Wawrzyk] out in the fourth but he has exceeded my expectations - that was a great bonus", said Russian top prizefighter in history and Povetkin's head coach Kostya Tszyu.
With Vitaliy Klitschko (as well as Nikolay Valuev, Magomed Abdusalamov and a number of other renowned pugilists) watching at ringside and smiling kindly, Povetkin confirmed: "Wladimir Klitschko is my next goal and my next opponent".
Povetkin now moves forward to a fall showdown with IBO/WBO/WBA/IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in the fall. Klitschko-Povetkin will take place in Moscow and Russian promoter Vladimir Hryunov won the promotionsl rights with a purse bid win of $23 million dollars.
