Alexander Povetkin vs Evander Holyfield Looking Likely for December

Newly-belted WBA "regular" heavyweight titlist Alexander Povetkin looks likely to face Evander Holyfield next, with December 17 in Zurich, Switzerland being the target.

Povetkin (22-0, 15 KO) picked up the title on Saturday in Germany, beating Ruslan Chagaev on points. Holyfield (44-10-2, 29 KO) was in attendance and was a focal point at the Friday weigh-in and the Saturday fight, as you can see pictured above, and rumors quickly became reality: Holyfield was in line, for some reason, to fight the winner.

Let's be totally clear here: Evander Holyfield is 48 years old, turns 49 in October, and hasn't been good in years. This is not a Bernard Hopkins situation. When Hopkins "fell off," it meant he lost a couple of razor-thin, still-debated fights to Jermain Taylor. He then immediately went up to light heavyweight and destroyed Antonio Tarver. He's never been a non-factor.

When Holyfield "fell off" about a decade ago, he got pummeled by former middleweight James Toney and journeyman Larry Donald. He then had his license taken away by the New York commission. Since he's come back, he's done nothing special -- and no, I don't considering being robbed against Nikolai Valuev "special."

We've been here before. In 2007, Holyfield received an undeserved title shot at Sultan Ibragimov and was dominated. In January of this year, Holyfield faced club fighter Sherman Williams in West Virginia, and was having plenty of trouble before a no-contest decision in the third round. His last fight saw him beat Brian Nielsen, but so what? Nielsen hadn't fought in nine years, and that fight shouldn't have happened.

I don't have anything against Evander Holyfield as a fighter or anything like that. He was a great one, but since 1999, he's 8-7-2 with one no-contest, and he hasn't had a quality W since 2002 (his 2006 win over Fres Oquendo was debatable, but you could count that one, I suppose).

And really, my dislike of this fight isn't so much directed at Holyfield, who's just taking the opportunity given to him, as it is Alexander Povetkin, Sauerland Event, maybe Teddy Atlas a little bit, and the WBA. Povetkin is proving nothing with this fight, no matter how convincingly he beats Holyfield, and he will beat Holyfield. As Dr. Bob Kelso once said, "At some point, you're just beating up an old man."