Povetkin vs Rahman Rescheduled For Sept. 29

The WBA "regular" heavyweight title fight between Alexander Povetkin and former world champion Hasim Rahman has been rescheduled for September 29 in Hamburg, Germany.

Rahman, who turns 40 in November, hasn't been anything close to a legitimate contender since about 2007, maybe 2008, and even then he was hanging on via name value far more than ring accomplishments that remained relevant to his current standing. The last time the Baltimore native beat anyone you could consider more than a quality club fighter came in 2005, when he beat Monte Barrett.

Rahman (50-7-2, 41 KO) last fought in June 2011, weighing in at a whopping 284 pounds and struggling to beat Galen Brown. You don't have to take my word for it when I say that Rahman isn't on this level anymore. Just ask Hasim himself following that last fight:

"I don't really feel like that was me in there. There's no way -- in all due respect to Galen Brown, but I done knocked guys out in two rounds that knocked him out in three, four rounds. There's no way on God's green earth that I think that this man should go five, six rounds with me. I just can't see it. I'm still in shock. I feel like I lost the fight. ... Basically, it all boils down to me not listening to my corner. ... I just wanted to electrify the crowd, hit him with a big right hand, but I kept missing. ... I let this man go six rounds with me, that's like a loss, man. I can't be taken seriously as a legitimate title threat coming off of this fight. I need a fight as soon as possible."

The WBA appointing Rahman as a mandatory challenger to Povetkin (24-0, 16 KO) was absurd when it happened, and it's pretty much just a shame that we're wasting part of a year even bothering with this. Rahman doesn't deserve the title shot simply because he used to be good, and it allows Povetkin to go back to easier fights after having his eyes opened by fighting in-prime top cruiserweight Marco Huck in February, which nearly resulted in Povetkin suffering his first pro defeat.