Wladimir Klitschko's company wins purse bid for Dec. 13 fight

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Unified heavyweight titleholder Wladimir Klitschko's company, K2 Promotions, won a purse bid Tuesday to gain control of his mandatory title defense against Alexander Povetkin.

K2 bid a whopping $13,130,130, easily beating the only other bid, made by Povetkin promoter Sauerland Event, of $8,114,140.

The fight will take place Dec. 13 at a venue to be determined in Germany, Klitschko's adviser, Shelly Finkel, told ESPN.com. HBO will televise the fight in the United States.

"I'm just glad we won the bid," Finkel said. "The fight will be controlled by K2 and it will be a great promotion and handled the right way. There are a lot of people who can handle the promotion but they might not extend the courtesies to you that we will to them."

Under IBF rules, Klitschko is entitled to 75 percent of the winning bid ($9,847,597.50) and Povetkin (16-0, 12 KOs), the 2004 Russian Olympic super heavyweight gold medalist, will receive the remaining 25 percent ($3,282,532.50).

Klitschko (51-3, 45 KOs), a 1996 Olympic gold medalist for Ukraine, unified two belts in February with a lopsided decision win against Russia's Sultan Ibragimov in New York. In July, Klitschko, 32, knocked out American Tony Thompson, his other mandatory challenger, in the 11th round in Germany.

Povetkin, 29, earned his mandatory status by winning a four-man box-off. In October 2007, he stopped former titleholder Chris Byrd in the 11th round of the semifinals and then won a unanimous decision against Eddie Chambers in January to gain the title shot. Povetkin stayed busy with a fourth-round destruction of Taurus Sykes in July.

Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.

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Dan Rafael

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• ESPN.com boxing writer since 2005
• Writes pound-for-pound rankings
• Five years at USA Today