By Luke Furman

Andrei Ryabinsky, promoter for Olympic gold medal winner Alexander Povetkin (29-1, 21 KOs), admits that a fight against Mariusz Wach (31-1, 17 KOs) is the perfect selection to prepare his fighter for a mandatory bout against WBC champion heavyweight Deontay Wilder (35 -0, 34 KOs).

Povetkin-Wach will be held on November 4 in Kazan. At stake is the WBC Silver heavyweight belt.

Wilder is going to take a voluntary defense in January. The opponent is unknown after rumored candidate Tony Thompson lost a twelve round decision to Malik Scott on Friday  night. Scott was already knocked out by Wilder in one round last year.

"We want to prepare for the next opponent [Wilder]. Wach has similar qualities to Wilder - both are giants and have long arms and legs. Wach is an opponent that we need at this time. This will be a very useful fight for Alexander to test several tactics [that he would use against Wilder]," the promoter said.

"Therefore this bout with Wach is so important. Mariusz is a class act and tough, and he could take a real good punch. Alexander would only benefit from this kind of fight."

Povetkin and Wach share a sole defeat to the same fighter, WBO/WBA/IBF/IBO heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko, who faces mandatory challenger Tyson Fury next month.

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org