Povetkin withdraws from Klitschko fight due to foot injury

Unified heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko was scheduled to meet Alexander Povetkin in Germany on December 13th, but will now face a new opponent after the mandatory challenger was forced to withdraw from the bout due to injury.

Povetkin was doing roadwork in his native Russia when he tripped over a tree root, tearing a ligament in his left foot.  The injury isn’t particularly serious, but it will keep him out of training until late November which makes getting ready for a mid-December fight highly problematic if not impossible.  For that reason, he’s decided to withdraw from his fight with Klitschko and hope for another shot in 2009.  An attorney for the fight promoters offered this explanation:

"The doctor told him he can't train until the end of November, which makes it impossible for him to be in a fight on Dec. 13. We're optimistic he will be ready to fight early next year and we're hopeful we can work something out where he fights Wladimir Klitschko early next year."

Klitschko advisor Shelly Finkel has confirmed that Wlad will fight on December 13th, but as of yet hasn’t found a suitable opponent:

"Wladimir is going to fight. We'll go down the rankings and try to find a suitable replacement. We'll explore all of our options."

Names under consideration are IBF contenders Alexander Dimitrenko and Cristobal Arreola, who would have to withdraw from previously scheduled bouts to take the fight.  Also in the mix are Oleg Maskaev and Hasim Rahman, neither of whom has fights scheduled and offer the additional upside of greater name recognition, at least in the US where the bout will be televised on HBO.