By Keith Idec

Those that handle Vyacheslav Glazkov’s career still believe he can become one of boxing’s best heavyweights.

According to his manager, however, that won’t occur unless Glazkov (19-0-1, 12 KOs) becomes more aggressive during fights and exhibits the mean streak necessary to thrive at the top level. Glazkov’s trainer, Victor Petrochenko, and his manager, Egis Klimas, have repeatedly reminded the 30-year-old Ukrainian contender of the need to make this change throughout training camp for his important fight Saturday night against Philadelphia’s Steve Cunningham (28-6, 13 KOs) in Montreal.

“He’s too nice of a guy in the ring,” Klimas said on a conference call. “He’s a very nice guy outside. When he comes in the ring, he keeps it nice. What we’re trying to do, we’re trying to put him where he has to be mean in the ring. No matter how good you are, the day you go in the ring you have to be mean. You have to be aggressive. You have to have not anger – this is not war, this is a sport. But you have to have a sportsman’s anger. That’s what we’ve been working on with him the last few months.”

The Cunningham-Glazkov fight, a 12-round IBF elimination match, will be the second of three bouts broadcast by HBO from Bell Centre on Saturday night.

Russian knockout artist Sergey Kovalev (26-0-1, 23 KOs) is scheduled to defend his IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight titles against hometown hero Jean Pascal (29-2-1, 17 KOs, 1 NC) in the 12-round main event. The telecast is set to begin at 9:45 p.m. ET with a 12-round light heavyweight bout between South Africa’s Isaac Chilemba (23-2-2, 10 KOs) and Russia’s Vasily Lepikhin (17-0, 9 KOs).

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.