By Yuri Tarantin, Allboxing.ru

Cuban heavyweight Mike Perez (21-1, 13KOs) is training hard in Russia for the final WBC eliminator against Alexander Povetkin (28-1, 20KOs) on May 22nd in Moscow, Russia.

Povetkin has been able to recover strong from a 2013 twelve round decision loss to Wladimir Klitschko. He came back last year to score impressive knockout victories over Manuel Charr and Carlos Takam, who fought Perez to a draw last year.

For his part, Perez lost a twelve round split decision to Bryant Jennings in July, but came back in February of this year to stop Darnell Wilson in two rounds.

The winner will become the mandatory challenger to champion Deontay Wilder, who defends next against Eric Molina.