Bermane Stiverne faces Alexander Povetkin for right to face heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder
Former WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne hopes to warm things up a bit in Russia on Saturday when he takes on the WBC's No. 1 contender Alexander Povetkin for the interim title at the Expo Center in Ekaterinburg.
Stiverene came to Russia a week early to acclimate to the bitter winter cold in Ekaterinburg, but says he knows what it's like.
"I'm used to it, I lived in Montreal, Canada," said Stiverne, who is from Haiti. "It's the same kind of weather, probably colder in Russia because when it's cold in Montreal it's like January or February. It's nothing I've never seen before."
The fight will be telecast live online at http://www.vsenabox.ru starting at 2:30 p.m. ET in the USA.
Stiverne (25-2-1, 21 KOs) tipped the scales Friday at 249.3 pounds, nearly 26 pounds heavier than Povetkin (30-1, 22 KOs). The winner becomes the mandatory challenger to undefeated WBC champion Deontay Wilder.
Stiverene is confident he will get another crack at Wilder. He's the only opponent to take Wilder (37-0, 36 KOs) the distance, nearly two years ago in Las Vegas.
"When I say I'm going to knock (Povetkin) out, it's not any disrespect thing or I'm trying to trash talk, this is what I believe and this is what I trained for," Stiverne said. "Anybody who would come here and try and get a decision in his backyard would be a fool to believe that.
"It's the same thing if he came to my home, he has to try to knock me out. And what better way to win a title than by knockout!"
Stiverne, 38, likes the way the heavyweight division is shaping up these days and looks forward to fighting Wilder again.
"This is my main focus," he said, "and now I get to be a two-time heavyweight champ, so it's a great motivation."
Wilder and Povetkin were supposed to fight for the title last May, but the WBC canceled the fight after Povetkin tested positive for the banned substance meldonium.
Wilder instead fought heavyweight contender Chris Arreola and knocked him out.
The WBC later cleared Povetkin because it said they could not prove that he took meldonium after it was added to the banned substances list on Jan. 1, 2016.
Povetkin, 37, has won his last four fights by stoppage since his only defeat, a lopsided unanimous decision loss to Wladimir Klitschko in 2013. Klitschko knocked Povetkin down four times in that fight.
Stiverne's last fight was November 2015, a unanimous decision over Derric Rossy in Las Vegas after Stiverne was knocked down in the first round.
(Photo of Povetkin, left, and Stiverne at the weigh-in courtesy of World of Boxing)