Overviewing Alexander Povetkin's career

[DrDuke]

Being a longtime fan of Povetkin, I've made a super huge evaluation of his career in the history section, which is probably a too huge piece of ravings, unless you're a fan of Povetkin or me, or whatever. Here it is: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=247917

Since it gathered a pretty modest discussion, I've decided to make in this section of the forum a much shorter overview of Povetkin's career, summing up his advantages and disadvantages as a boxer, achievements and drawbacks.

Summarization of boxing abilities.

Strong sides as a boxer:
- Good offensive skillset
- High technical abilities
- Dedicated
- Big power
- Excellent inside game
- Good chin

Weak sides as a boxer:
- Limited defensive abilities
- Limited footwork
- Not very creative
- Mediocre jab
- Somitimes relied on power too much

Summarization of a career.

- Good start, 2005-2008. Won Larry Donald, Eddie Chambers and Chris Byrd, became a mandatory for Wlad's IBF.
- Bad beginning of middle part, 2009-2013. Ducked Klitschko, because couldn't find a proper coach (changed Atlas, Tszyu, Zimin), faced the likes of Boswell, shot Rahman and Wawrzyk between good fight like vs Chagaev and Huck. Wasted a lot of time, eventually lost to Wlad in an utterly one-sided fashion.
- Good ending of middle part, 2014-2016. I consider it his prime. Teamed up with a good coach Kirpa. Ramained under good promotor Ryabinsky. Stopped Charr, Takam, Perez, Wach, Duhaupas in a row. Tracked to Wilder.
- Unlucky 2016. Wilder and Stiverne bouts were off because of the PED scandals, where Povetkin was eventually justified both times. I believe he was in such situation simply because of the politics of boxing and general situation in the World and in the sports (meldonium affairs).
- Good ending, 2017-2021. Wasn't prime anymore, but still remained with a good team and had a row of good fights.

Achievements.
I won't count all those paper straps, never rated them, never will. Povetkin didn't possessed a full version of a World title, he wasn't the man of any of the two eras he competed in, but he was a legit top 10 fighter for 15 years, majorly worthy of top 5.

According to the Ring since 2007 until 2020: 10 times in top 5, 13 times in top 10, not counting 2016 (unranked because of the PEDs scandals).

I think this is a legit ranking. Povetkin was a very good fighter and a memorable one.

So, what's your opinion about Povetkin's career? Could he be better promoted and matched? Would he win the likes of Haye, Wilder and Parker, who were able to grab belts? And what about Vitali? Could Povetkin achieve more? Was his career satysfying enough?

[polecateddy]

Unlucky in 2016 for PEDS scandals? Should have got a lifetime ban for the amount of dope he continually injected in his arse!

[DrDuke]

Unlucky in 2016 for PEDS scandals? Should have got a lifetime ban for the amount of dope he continually injected in his arse!

All of them are on steroids! Even apart of this, he was justified for both of times, cause it was determined that the found substances had been in permissible levels or stuff like that. Thus, if the investigation went fast and it time, those fights shouldn't have been cancelled. So, of course, it was pure bad luck. First they say, that you are juicey, then they say, that it had actually been OK, but his championship opportunity was just lost.

[dookus]

Being a longtime fan of Povetkin, I've made a super huge evaluation of his career in the history section, which is probably a too huge piece of ravings, unless you're a fan of Povetkin or me, or whatever. Here it is: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=247917

Since it gathered a pretty modest discussion, I've decided to make in this section of the forum a much shorter overview of Povetkin's career, summing up his advantages and disadvantages as a boxer, achievements and drawbacks.

Summarization of boxing abilities.

Strong sides as a boxer:
- Good offensive skillset
- High technical abilities
- Dedicated
- Big power
- Excellent inside game
- Good chin

Weak sides as a boxer:
- Limited defensive abilities
- Limited footwork
- Not very creative
- Mediocre jab
- Somitimes relied on power too much

Summarization of a career.

- Good start, 2005-2008. Won Larry Donald, Eddie Chambers and Chris Byrd, became a mandatory for Wlad's IBF.
- Bad beginning of middle part, 2009-2013. Ducked Klitschko, because couldn't find a proper coach (changed Atlas, Tszyu, Zimin), faced the likes of Boswell, shot Rahman and Wawrzyk between good fight like vs Chagaev and Huck. Wasted a lot of time, eventually lost to Wlad in an utterly one-sided fashion.
- Good ending of middle part, 2014-2016. I consider it his prime. Teamed up with a good coach Kirpa. Ramained under good promotor Ryabinsky. Stopped Charr, Takam, Perez, Wach, Duhaupas in a row. Tracked to Wilder.
- Unlucky 2016. Wilder and Stiverne bouts were off because of the PED scandals, where Povetkin was eventually justified both times. I believe he was in such situation simply because of the politics of boxing and general situation in the World and in the sports (meldonium affairs).
- Good ending, 2017-2021. Wasn't prime anymore, but still remained with a good team and had a row of good fights.

Achievements.
I won't count all those paper straps, never rated them, never will. Povetkin didn't possessed a full version of a World title, he wasn't the man of any of the two eras he competed in, but he was a legit top 10 fighter for 15 years, majorly worthy of top 5.

According to the Ring since 2007 until 2020: 10 times in top 5, 13 times in top 10, not counting 2016 (unranked because of the PEDs scandals).

I think this is a legit ranking. Povetkin was a very good fighter and a memorable one.

So, what's your opinion about Povetkin's career? Could he be better promoted and matched? Would he win the likes of Haye, Wilder and Parker, who were able to grab belts? And what about Vitali? Could Povetkin achieve more? Was his career satysfying enough?

I think that's a fair assessment. He is one of the very best not to have got a proper belt at HW and his sheer longevity speaks for itself. A pity his prime largely coincided with peak boring Wlad. I think I've said before that poor management and unfortunate breaks also wasted a lot of important time.

I would say he was capable of being pretty creative compared with many heavyweights. The Whyte KO is just a beautiful piece of setting up, he kept AJ guessing for six rounds, and there were plenty of great finishing combos. But granted, he would often drift into a kind of holding pattern mid-fight looking for big shots for whole rounds. The Hunter draw, for example, was frustrating to watch.

Will be interesting to see if he coaches or has some involvement with the amateurs. Clearly he's picked up a huge range of things in his long career.

[DrDuke]

I would say he was capable of being pretty creative compared with many heavyweights. The Whyte KO is just a beautiful piece of setting up, he kept AJ guessing for six rounds, and there were plenty of great finishing combos. But granted, he would often drift into a kind of holding pattern mid-fight looking for big shots for whole rounds. The Hunter draw, for example, was frustrating to watch.

Well, it's possible to argue on the creativity of the uppercut, that iced Whyte. It was a special move prepared for Whyte and worked out hard in the gym. It was said by Povetkin himself and his team. You can even see several attempts of such uppercuts during the fight. Povetkin was down after a one. Nonetheless, it was a perfect tool.

With AJ Povetkin did a gret job, but eventually got repetitive and tired. Anyway, if he landed some of the shots cleaner, AJ could be iced. Povetkin should be given a credit for that fight indeed, especially acknowledging that he was past prime.

And I liked the Hunter bout. Yes, Sasha was even more past it and tired later on, but he did a solid job. I had it 115-113 for Povetkin. Prime Sasha would handle Mike convincingly.

[dookus]

I would say he was capable of being pretty creative compared with many heavyweights. The Whyte KO is just a beautiful piece of setting up, he kept AJ guessing for six rounds, and there were plenty of great finishing combos. But granted, he would often drift into a kind of holding pattern mid-fight looking for big shots for whole rounds. The Hunter draw, for example, was frustrating to watch.

Well, it's possible to argue on the creativity of the uppercut, that iced Whyte. It was a special move prepared for Whyte and worked out hard in the gym. It was said by Povetkin himself and his team. You can even see several attempts of such uppercuts during the fight. Povetkin was down after a one. Nonetheless, it was a perfect tool.

With AJ Povetkin did a gret job, but eventually got repetitive and tired. Anyway, if he landed some of the shots cleaner, AJ could be iced. Povetkin should be given a credit for that fight indeed, especially acknowledging that he was past prime.

And I liked the Hunter bout. Yes, Sasha was even more past it and tired later on, but he did a solid job. I had it 115-113 for Povetkin. Prime Sasha would handle Mike convincingly.

That's interesting, I didn't know that about the Whyte KO shot. Nevertheless, wonderfully set up across the rounds.

I agree, a prime Povetkin wouldn't have let him off the hook. That was what frustrated me, he had clearly touched on the way to finish it but couldn't quite find it again. Perhaps just age and weariness.