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Klitschko vs Povetkin: HBO to air fight in United States

The biggest heavyweight fight of the year will come to the biggest boxing carrier in the U.S. in October.

Alex Grimm
Scott Christ is the managing editor of Bad Left Hook and has been covering boxing for SB Nation since 2006.

Wladimir Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin are still on to finally fight on October 5, and Dan Rafael of ESPN.com reports via Twitter that HBO will air the fight live from Russia that afternoon. The fight will be for the WBA, WBO, and IBF heavyweight titles, all held by Klitschko (though Povetkin holds a lesser version of the WBA title, too).

Klitschko (60-3, 51 KO) hasn't fought on HBO since 2011, when his much-hyped fight with David Haye was an in-ring dud. HBO has largely gotten out of the heavyweight business, but with Golden Boy no longer doing business with the network, star fighters like Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko could be featured more frequently on HBO airwaves again. Vitali's last fight in September 2012 was shown on HBO, but via tape delay, and partially used to help promote the airing of the Klitschko documentary.

Both Klitschkos have been featured on Epix in recent years, too, as has Povetkin. For now, Epix is reportedly out of the boxing business, which is hardly a surprise given the lack of buzz they were able to build and the relative unavailability of the channel.

Povetkin (26-0, 18 KO) has actually not been seen on HBO since January 2008, when he beat Eddie Chambers. That fight was supposed to set up Klitschko-Povetkin, which was originally scheduled for December 2008, then later in summer 2009, and neither fight actually happened.

We have two months until fight night for this one, but so far, so good. HBO will also have a doubleheader from Orlando that night, featuring Miguel Cotto vs Delvin Rodriguez and Terence Crawford, so a tape delay airing will likely also be paired with those bouts.

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