Cedric Boswell is looking to become the first American boxer in five years to hold any of the major world heavyweight belts when he meets WBA champion Alexander Povetkin on Saturday.
The 42-year-old Boswell has won 14 successive fights since the only loss of his career to Jameel McCline in 2003.
The only win of note since then was a 10-round decision over then-45-year-old Oliver McCall in March. McCall won the WBC title from Lennox Lewis in 1994, defended it against Larry Holmes, then lost it to Frank Bruno the next year.
Boswell, in the leadup to his first shot at one of the major belts, said ''the American dream will soundly defeat the Russian pretender.''
Povetkin took the vacant WBA title by beating Ruslan Chagaev on points in August. Wladimir Klitschko gave up the WBA title he won from David Haye when he was made a ''super champion'' by the WBA.
Povetkin now faces Boswell, a former sparring partner.
''It will be an interesting fight for me, for everyone,'' Povetkin said. ''I am sure it will be a beautiful fight. Sparring is one thing, boxing is another. I've got some methods to deal with him.''
The Russian is the busier of the two in the ring, technical and efficient, but he is not as big a puncher as some heavyweights. He has won all 22 fights in his career, 15 of them by knockout, while Boswell has a record of 35-1 (26 KOs). Boswell has a reach advantage over Povetkin.
The last American to hold one of the three major heavyweight belts — WBA, WBC, IBF — was Hasim Rahman in 2006.
The Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, with a capacity of 12,000, is nearly sold out for the ''The Night of the Heavyweights,'' largely because of fans of the popular Finnish fighter Robert Helenius (16-0, 11 KOs), who takes on Britain's Dereck Chisora (15-1, 9 KOs) for the vacant European heavyweight title.
