By Alexey Sukachev

Opponents were announced for the stellar ledger of the World of Boxing fight card on November 4 in Kazan, Russia.

WBC/TBRB #1 rated heavyweight Alexander Povetkin (29-1, 21 KOs), a mandatory challenger for the WBC heavyweight title, will look to stay in a tip-top shape against rock-hard Pole Mariusz Wach (31-1, 17 KOs). 

Povetkin is coming off the first-round TKO over Mike Perez in the final eliminator this May.

 

Like Povetkin, the only loss that Wach—ranked #13 by the WBC—has endured came against Wladimir Klitschko in a one-sided unanimous decision in November 2012. 

The Polish fighter is 4-0, 2 KOs, since that loss and an almost two-year long PED-induced layoff after that. He defeated Konstantin Airich and Gbenga Oloukun in 2015.

WBA cruiserweight champion (also ranked #3 by the TBRB) Denis Lebedev (27-2, 20 KOs) will look to further improve his resume against undefeated WBA #4 Nigerian Lateef Kayode (21-0, 16 KOs). It will be Lebedev’s fifth defense of the title. Kayode has never been officially defeated or even tied but he does have two “No contest” affairs. In June 2012 he scored a draw in a bid for a vacant IBO 200lb title against Antonio Tarver, who was later caught cheating on PED’s. In September the last year Kayode was stopped in one by Luiz Ortiz for a vacant WBA Interim heavyweight title, he latter also failing his drug test. The Nigerian chose to come back to his cruiserweight roots after that.

Another top-notch Russian cruiserweight Rakhim Chakhkiev (23-1, 18 KOs) will risk his high ranks (TBRB #7 plus three top-ten ranks by major sanctioning bodies) and his IBO title against experienced Nigerian Ola Afolabi (21-4-4, 10 KOs), a former two-time WBO Interim cruiserweight champion.

Finally, WBA interim welterweight champion Svetlana Kulakova (10-0-1, 1 KO) is looking for a full title against her bitter rival Ana Laura Esteche (11-4-2, 2 KOs) of Argentina. This pair fought to an entertaining draw in May 2014.