By Alexey Sukachev

Following his fight against the reigning king of the heavyweights Wladimir Klitschko and his first career loss, Alexander Povetkin (now 26-1, 18 KOs) and his promoter Andrey Ryabinskiy staged a small presser at the Moscow Mortgage Center’s (MIC) headquarters on Wednesday. Here are the most interesting excerpts:

Povetkin about Stacey McKinley: “I have worked with Stacey for more than a month. He gave me something. There were interesting moments in the training, new combinations were learned.

Stacey led the corner while Alexander Zimin was unable to give any advice. But truly said, I think it’s better to train under the tutelage of a local coach, just because it is too difficult to communicate over interpreter between the rounds”.

Povetkin about his perception of the fight: “Wladimir overcame me technically. But I have never given up physically or mentally. At the moment, Klitschko is better than me but I wish to make correct any conclusions about the fight, and to improve my game – tactically, at the very first place. Wladimir’s punches, his jabs, his right hand are surely hard. But he isn’t an extraterrestrial force. He can be boxed against, and he can be defeated. I’ll do my best to get back to the spot I was and to get within the same ring with him”.

Povetkin about knockdowns: “There were no legal knockdowns in the seventh round. I was pushed and wrestled down by Wladimir in the seventh. I don’t think those falls should have been rules as legitimate knockdowns. The only time I was truly down was after Wladimir’s perfect shot to my whiskers in the second”.

Povetkin about his future plans: “I’ll review the tape later. I’m staying here in Russia, and I don’t intend to rest. I want to do something. I shall help children. I’ll also assist Denis Lebedev in his preparations. I hope he will get his next fight soon.

Andrey (Ryabinskiy) plans and stages only huge fights, huge events, and I hope to get back to Wladimir pretty soon. Right now I’m a part of Sauerland Event. When my agreement finishes at the end of 2013, I’ll discuss my future with Mr. Ryabinskiy”.

Ryabinskiy about referee Luis Pabon: “He did worse than your average referee. He did really bad in the fight. But we don’t want to form any petitions, to appeal the decision. Wladimir was plain better on Saturday than Alexander. It’s out internal problems, which should be resolved within Team Povetkin. Complaints over the decision smell bad at the moment. And we don’t want to smell bad at all”.