Alexander Vladimirovich Povetkin is a Russian professional boxer. A physically
strong, hard hitting and skilled pressure fighter, Povetkin is the former
WBA heavyweight champion. As an amateur he won a gold medal in the super
heavyweight division at the 2004 Olympics.
Amateur After a successful amateur kickboxing
career that included winning World Junior championship in 1997, World title
in 1999 and a European professional kickboxing title in 2000, Povetkin won
his first major boxing tournament at the Russian Championships in 2000 at the age
of 21. This would be the beginning of several major amateur tournaments
Povetkin would go on to win including; the Good Will Games in Brisbane,
Australia in 2001; the 34th European Championship in 2002; the XII World
Championship in 2003 held in Thailand; and the 35th European Championship in
2004. His amateur success would culminate in winning the gold medal at
super-heavyweight boxing at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, in a
walkover match over Egyptian Mohamed Aly. After taking Olympic Gold, he
concluded his amateur career with a record of 125–7, with all losses
avenged. = Amateur boxing competition record=
= Amateur Boxing Highlights= 2002 won the gold medal at the European
Championships in Perm, Russia at Super heavyweight. Results were:
Defeated Kurban Günebakan DISQ-2 Defeated Bsisi Taufiq RSCO-3
Defeated Sebastian Kober RSCH-4 Defeated Roberto Cammarelle PTS
2003 won the gold medal at the World Championships in Bangkok at Super
heavyweight. Results were: Defeated Djamal Madjidov KO-2
Defeated Grzegorz Kielsa PTS Defeated Rustam Saidov PTS
Defeated Pedro Carrion PTS 2004 won the gold medal at the European
Championships in Pula, Croatia at Super heavyweight. Results were:
Defeated Ivica Bacurin RSCO-3 Defeated Vladimer Tchanturia WO
Defeated Nikola Vujasinovic RSCO-2 Defeated Jaroslav Jaksto RSCO-3
Defeated Roberto Cammarelle PTS 2004 won the gold medal at the 2004
Olympics in Athens at Super heavyweight representing Russia. Results were:
Defeated Sergey Rozhnov – RSC-4 Defeated Mukhtarkhan Dildabekov – PTS
Defeated Roberto Cammarelle – PTS Defeated Mohamed Aly – Aly retired in
the match, due to an injured right hand. = Kickboxing competition record=
Pro career = 2005-2006: Prospect=
After winning the gold medal, Povetkin took a year off before making the
decision to turn pro. After meeting with several fight promoters, Povetkin signed
a contract to fight for Sauerland Events. Unlike other promoters,
Sauerland would allow Povetkin to train mainly in his native Russia and fight
primarily out of Germany. Povetkin made his professional debut in Germany 11
June 2005 by defeating German Muhammed Ali Durmaz by second round TKO. He
followed that victory, in September, with a fourth round KO over Cerrone Fox
and then by a first round knockout over John Castle less than a month later,
although Castle was a last minute replacement for another fighter. In
November, Povetkin won a one-sided four round decision over Canadian Stephane
Tessier and finished off the year by gaining a technical knockout in 5 win
over American Willie Chapman in December.
Povetkin stated early in the year that he wanted to fight five times in 2006.
His first fight on his way of accomplishing this happened on 4 March
2006 when Povetkin scored a 2nd round TKO over Nigerian 1992 Olympic bronze
medal winner Richard Bango. Though Bango had some success in the first round,
Povetkin rallied, to not only win that round, but to knock out Bango in the
next. For his next fight, on 22 April,
Povetkin signed up for his most important fight up until that date by
facing Friday Ahunanya. Povetkin vs. Ahunanya drew attention in the boxing
community because Ahunanya was believed to be a tough opponent for someone with
only six fights. Despite this, the fight was fairly one-sided and Povetkin won a
by clear unanimous decision. He followed up those wins with a third
round KO in Hannover, Germany on 3 June 2006 against Ecuador's Livin Castillo,
Povetkin's first south paw opponent and a fifth round KO on 23 September 2006
against veteran American Ed Mahone in Wetzlar, Germany.
His final fight of the year was held on 10 December against ex-Cruiserweight
title holder Imamu Mayfield. Mayfield became Povetkin's opponent after
original opponent Ross Purrity was injured before the fight. It was
Povetkin's first pro fight in his native Russia and was held on the undercard of
Oleg Maskaev's first WBC title defense; the first time a Heavyweight
Championship bout was held in Russia. Povetkin won the fight by way of a KO in
the third round, bringing his total record to 10 wins in 10 fights by the
end of the year. = 2007-2008: IBF Tournament=
On 3 March 2007 Povetkin scored another TKO, this time over experienced
American, David Bostice. The fight ended in the second round. Following that
fight, Povetkin had a more of a stay busy fight, winning for the fifth
straight time by KO, this time in the second round over Canada's Patrice
L'Heureux. Alexander Povetkin's next fight 30 June
2007, was against experienced American contender, Larry Donald. Donald held
victories over such illustrious figures as ex-champion Evander Holyfield and had
narrowly lost his most recent fight to former belt holder Nikolai Valuev.
Donald was considered, by many, to be a very good test for a prospect such as
Povetkin, a test that Povetkin passed decisively, winning unanimously.
This was the first time Povetkin had gone the full distance of ten rounds in
a professional boxing fight, though he did go ten rounds as a pro kick-boxer.
The win over Donald was considered solid, and Povetkin continued his
emergence as a promising heavyweight boxing contender.
In July, the IBF announced it had created a four person tournament to
create a challenger for current IBF Champion Wladimir Klitschko.
On 27 October 2007 Povetkin met Chris Byrd, who had lost his title to
Klitschko the year before. Povetkin won by way of an 11th round TKO victory.
Byrd put up more resistance than Donald, but ultimately was overwhelmed, and his
corner threw in the towel. Less than a week later, Eddie Chambers
won a split decision victory over former title challenger Calvin Brock. This
advanced Povetkin and Chambers to the final round of the tournament. On 26
January 2008, after initial problems Povetkin defeated Chambers by unanimous
decision to become the mandatory challenger for Klitschko. On 19 July
2008, Povetkin knocked out Taurus Sykes in the fourth round.
Povetkin was supposed to challenge Klitschko on 13 December 2008, but on 25
October, he withdrew from the Klitschko fight due to an injury. The IBF then
announced that Klitschko would have until 13 September 2009 to fight
Povetkin, but that option was not exercised.
= 2009-2010: Staying Busy= After nine months inactivity due to his
injury, Povetkin won a comeback against once-beaten PanAm amateur champion Jason
Estrada on 4 April 2009 by unanimous decision. On 10 July 2009 Teddy Atlas
announced on Friday Night Fights that Povetkin would be temporarily relocated
to New York under his helm, where he can train him full-time. On 5 December,
Povetkin fought in Ludwigsburg, Germany, against Leo Nolan, winning with a third
round KO. On 13 March 2010 Povetkin continued his
unbeaten run beating Javier Mora in decisive action dropping him in the
first, second and fifth rounds leading to the referee stopping the fight
declaring him the winner by TKO. = 2011: WBA World Title & First Title
Defense= After Wladimir Klitschko unified his WBO
& IBF titles with David Haye's WBA title, Klitschko was upgraded to "Super
Champion" by the WBA, thus making the "Regular Champion" title vacant. On 27
August 2011, with Teddy Atlas in his corner, Alexander Povetkin bested
Uzbekistan's Ruslan Chagaev by unanimous decision to earn the WBA Heavyweight
Champion at the Messehalle arena in Erfurt, Germany. Povetkin withstood a
middle-round challenge from Chagaev, but worked his foe into submission in the
later rounds of the bout. He walked away victorious thanks to 117–113, 117–113
and 116–112 scorecards. His first defense of the WBA title was
against the American heavyweight contender Cedric Boswell, on 3 December
2011, at Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, Finland. Povetkin won the fight by 8th
round KO. = 2012: Second & Third Title Defences=
His second defense of the WBA title was against the current WBO Cruiserweight
Champion Marco Huck, on 25 February 2012 at Porsche Arena in Stuttgart,
Baden-Württemberg. Povetkin won on points. The scores were: 114–114,
116–113 and 116–112. Povetkin was originally set to fight
Hasim Rahman on 14 July 2012, at the Alsterdorfer Sporthalle, Alsterdorf,
Hamburg. However, on 29 June, Rahman pulled out with a hand injury. This
fight was rescheduled for 29 September, and Povetkin knocked out Rahman in
second round. = 2013: Fourth Title Defense &
Challenging Klitschko= Povetkin fought Andrzej Wawrzyk on 17
May 2013, in a voluntary title defense. He won the bout in the third round by
the way of TKO. On 5 October 2013, Povetkin fought
Wladimir Klitschko for the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO Heavyweight titles. Povetkin
gave a brave effort against Klitschko, as the defending champion used his size
advantage, constantly clinching and leaning on his Russian counterpart
anytime Povetkin moved in, at one point he even threw Povetkin across the ring.
Povetkin was quickly out of the fight; knocked down once in the second round
and three times in the seventh round, but survived until the end. All three
judges scored the fight 119-104 for Klitschko. The fight took place in
Moscow, Olympic Stadium. = 2014: Return Victories=
Povetkin bounced back with a devastating stoppage of former WBC title challenger
Manuel Charr, followed by a further stoppage of contender Carlos Takam, in a
back and forth war considered a fight of the year for the heavyweight division.
On May 22, 2015 Povetkin earned a mandatory title shot at WBC heavyweight
champion Deontay Wilder by knocking out Irish based Cuban contender, Mike Perez
in the first round, also in devastating fashion.
Personal life Povetkin has a daughter named Arina with
his ex-wife, Irina. In July 2013, Alexander married Yevgenia Merkulova in
the Czech Republic. He also has a brother, Vladimir Povetkin, who fights
as a professional light heavyweight. Both fighters were trained by Valery
Belov. Povetkin also declared himself as rodnover, he wears a Perun axe necklace
and has the star of Rus tattoo. Professional boxing record
References External links
The official web site Personal page
Professional boxing record for Alexander Povetkin from BoxRec