The Luzhniki Sport Complex in Moscow, Russia hosts a big six-fight boxing event with a world title and several regional titles on the line. Right now, Several Bookmakers has posted a line on the Heavyweight 12-round bout between Cuba’s Mike Perez and Russia’s Alexander Povetkin as they meet for the WBC Silver Heavyweight title. Right now, Povetkin is a (-550), with the comeback on Perez at (+400), and there is not over/under posted as of yet. The match is set as a WBC Heavyweight Eliminator match. For Alexander Povetkin, this is a must win fight. Now (28-1) in his career, the Russian has won two fights in a row since dropping an October 2013 match to world #1 Wladimir Klitschko and the WBC Eliminator designation means that a win earns him a shot at current WBC Champion Deontay Wilder, a far easier task than facing Klitschko, who put Povetkin on the canvas three times on his way to a unanimous decision win by a wide margin (119-104, 119-104, 119-104). Povetkin has never fought outside of Europe, and after his loss to Klitschko, he has stayed in Russia where he will have a huge home field advantage over just about any fighter out there. He went (2-0) in 2014, defeated ranked fighters Manuel Charr and Manuel Takam by TKO. Perez is a Cuban fighter who is still just 29 years old. In 2014-2015, he has gone an uneven (1-1-1) but his loss is to Bryant Jennings via Split decision, and the draw is with Takam, who was (29-1) when they met. He has never been down in a fight either, so Povetkin’s run of two straight stoppages will be tested. The main thing for Perez is to remember the example of Denis Lebedev, a Russian fighter who was taking a beating but the commission would not stop the fight, allowing him to suffer a dangerous eye injury as they hoped to get to the card where Lebedev was supposedly ahead. Perez has to basically stop Povetkin to get a win, at least, that should be his mindset going in. The main event features world #1 ranked Cruiserweight and WBC World Champion Grigory Drozd defending his belt against Poland’s Lukasz Janik. Also in the Cruiserweight division, Rakhim Chakhiev (22-1) faces Junior Anthony Wright (13-0-1) for the minor and vacant IBO World title. There is also an undercard Heavyweight match-up between Alex Leapai (30-6-3) and Manuel Charr (27-3). Leapai has lost two fights in a row and Charr has dropped 2 of 3, so both fighters are in need a win as they started 2014 as well ranked Heavyweights, and Charr’s losses include a stoppage at the hands of Povetkin, while Leapai dropped back to back fights to Wladimir Klitschko and Malik Scott. A line has not been posted for these fights as of yet, but the card may get attention as the fights get closer.
