Evaluation of Alexander Povetkin's career
Posted: 16 Jun 2021, 14:16
So, several days ago Povetkin has announced retirement from boxing. He is a one of those fighters, who brought me into boxing, he is a one of few boxers, whose career I've been following entirely, which, however, was quite easy for me, as I'm Russian. Actually, I've never been an obligatory fan of my countrymen boxers, but Povetkin obviously impressed me enough to root for him since the Olympics. Thus, it's interesting for me to evaluate his career.
First of all, I think, it's important to estimate Povetkin as a boxer. He truly was a skillful competitor. Probably, it's fair to say, that he adopted the notorious Eastern European style, which means being one-dimensional and robotic, but Povetkin was very good at his dimension. His offensive skills were high, his technique was polished. He was really good in going forward, working hard and breaking down his opponents, what was aided by huge power. He had almost every big scalp with his methodical game, workrate and roughness. Byrd, Chambers, Chagaev, Huck, Charr, Takam, Hammer, Hunter (although it's a draw) - he stuck to his game through his entire career and it was beneficial for him, because he was able to deliver his power that way.
Talking about disadvantages of Povetkin's style, it's important to name a lack of creativity, fluidness, ability to overcome adversity. A pretty common set for the Eastern European hard-working methodical fellows. In the Huck bout, which he arguably lost, he wasn't able to deal with the opponents toughness and dirty tricks. He was forced to bend down all night long, because he found no better escape plan in bad situations. However, you can argue, that he underestimated Huck, wasn't prepared properly and tired fast. Yet in the Klitschko bout he wasn't able to do anything at all against the jab-and-grab tactics of Wlad. Also, Povetkin went clueless, when he was hurt. He wasn't hurt often thankfully to his chin, but in the Joshua bout this disadvantage finally turned crucial, as Povetkin wasn't able to do anything, but going backwards after being rocked.
To conclude the evaluation of the style it's also important to note, that Povetkin should have relied more on his jab. Occasionally his offence went one-dimensional, as sometimes he sank in primitive power-punching attempts. Pretty much all his success in his career was scored with power combinations. Yet against Klitschko Povetkin's break-him-down-with-power tactics didn't work at all. Sometimes he kinda wanted to be like Mike Tyson, but Tyson was on levels better in cutting the distance. Povetkin had great left hook, right hand, downstairs-upstairs switching, but he mostly went directly to this stuff, only with some primitive faints, without any more ingenious setups.
The main problem of Povetkin's career, in my opinion, was his early promotion and coaching. And his team new that. Look at Povetkin's track to the top. He was in the elimination tourney for Klitschko's IBF strap and he won it by defeating Chris Byrd and Eddie Chambers. After that the Klitschko fight was nearly made, but Povetkin pulled out due to an injury, as it had been officially claimed. Soon after his original coach Valeriy Belov was changed to Teddy Atlas. It my opinion, it simply was a move to save Povetkin from possible hard loss to Wlad, to give him more time to prepare. Actually, even the Chambers bout showed some holes in Sasha's game, his team definitely saw it that way.
Atlas was a total mistake. His approach wasn't fitting to Povetkin at all. You can even see this during the Chagaev bout, when Teddy was saying Povetkin all his pretentious Rocky-movie styled nonsense instead of tactical suggestions. The fight itself was tactical and didn't have any drama, even in rare moments, when Chagaev looked better. Atlas looked like a clown. No surprise, that he didn't last long in Povetkin's team.
After Atlas the team Povetkin tried Russian legends, Alexander Zimin and Kostya Tszyu. Well, Tszyu was a strange choice, as he wasn't known as a great coach and he didn't become a one, that's why his time in the Povetkin's camp was brief. Zimin was an accomplished coach, in the pros he was known mostly for being a trainer of Yuri Arbachakov, but his methods obviously didn't work well with Povetkin. However, there was a belief in Zimin from the side of the Povetkin's team. With him Sasha was finally tracked to Klitschko, but we all know, how it ended up.
So, Povetkin had a very arguable track to the top. On the one hand, he was being put away from Klitschko for pretty long. On the other hand, he wasn't matched a lot against truly challenging opponents. He faced Chagaev after Ruslan had lost to Wlad, he was matched against Huck probably because this bout had been seen easy for him. He was facing the likes of Boswell, shot Rahman and Wawrzyk instead of other top guys. It was a typical "preserve 0" track to the championship bout.
After Povetkin lost to Klitschko his career finally went how it should had gone. Probably the main problem was in being managed by Sauerland. After Povetkin teamed up with Ryabinsky and coach Ivan Kirpa, he improved as a boxer and his career went upwards. The bout against Carlos Takam was exactly that kind of fight, which Povetkin had needed much earlier. It was a challenging affair, which made Sasha learn and progress.
Soon Povetkin was tracked to the other title shot, against Wilder, but we all know what happened. In my opinion, Povetkin just became a victim of the sports politics and general World politics of that time. Eventually, Povetkin was even justified in both his drug cases, isn't it thought-provoking? Talking about Povetkin's chances against Wilder, it's pretty fair to see a big possibility of Sasha KOing Wilder back then.
I'd say, 2014-2016 is a period of Povetkin's prime. It featured a KO winning streak over Charr, Takam, Perez, Wach, Duhaupas. He should have faced Wilder in 2016. In my opinion, Povetkin was simply robbed of a title shot. In 2017 years slowly started to show up for Sasha. He decisioned Rudenko and Hammer, whom he could have stopped at least a year earlier. He crushed Price, but not without getting rocked. Still he was able to give a fight to Joshua.
The final part of Povetkin's career was also fine. Obviously, Povetkin was already declined, but still he was able to have a draw with young and fresh Michael Hunter and to KTFO Whyte. It would be perfect, if Povetkin retired after the Whyte win, instantly after getting covid. Sasha had a tough course of corona and clearly he wasn't even at the level of the 1st Whyte bout, when he entered to the 2nd one. Anyway, it's good that Povetkin retired after the Whyte dilogy. Already not perfect, but still in time.
Talking about Povetkin's legacy, it's fair to call him absolutely best Russian heavyweight ever. He wasn't a champion in contrast to Maskaev, Ibragimov and Valuev, but he obviously was a better boxer than all of them, with a better resume. However, with devaluing of belts in the current century a lot of so-called champions can be easily exposed. Povetkin was a top fighter of the division for more than 15 years and he faced a lot of good names.
I'd call Povetkin Russian #3 p4p all time, following Tszyu and Kovalev. In my opinion, Povetkin did more through his career than Arbachakov, Lebedev and Gassiev, despite not grabbing any belts. Although Gassiev has a chance to overcome Povetkin, but I don't believe he will.
To sum it up, that's how I see Povetkin's career. He was far from being a perfect boxer, but he was very good at what he was doing. He was better than many formal heavyweight champions through all boxing history. He had some tracking problems early on, but eventually he appeared to be a long-term top fighter of the heavyweight division. He had a lot of memorable fights, win or lose. It would have been great to see him against the likes of Haye, Wilder, maybe Chisora and someone else, but still he had a very good resume with a lot of exciting fights.
So, what's your opinion about Povetkin's career? Could he be better promoted? Could he achieve more? Was his career satysfying enough?
First of all, I think, it's important to estimate Povetkin as a boxer. He truly was a skillful competitor. Probably, it's fair to say, that he adopted the notorious Eastern European style, which means being one-dimensional and robotic, but Povetkin was very good at his dimension. His offensive skills were high, his technique was polished. He was really good in going forward, working hard and breaking down his opponents, what was aided by huge power. He had almost every big scalp with his methodical game, workrate and roughness. Byrd, Chambers, Chagaev, Huck, Charr, Takam, Hammer, Hunter (although it's a draw) - he stuck to his game through his entire career and it was beneficial for him, because he was able to deliver his power that way.
Talking about disadvantages of Povetkin's style, it's important to name a lack of creativity, fluidness, ability to overcome adversity. A pretty common set for the Eastern European hard-working methodical fellows. In the Huck bout, which he arguably lost, he wasn't able to deal with the opponents toughness and dirty tricks. He was forced to bend down all night long, because he found no better escape plan in bad situations. However, you can argue, that he underestimated Huck, wasn't prepared properly and tired fast. Yet in the Klitschko bout he wasn't able to do anything at all against the jab-and-grab tactics of Wlad. Also, Povetkin went clueless, when he was hurt. He wasn't hurt often thankfully to his chin, but in the Joshua bout this disadvantage finally turned crucial, as Povetkin wasn't able to do anything, but going backwards after being rocked.
To conclude the evaluation of the style it's also important to note, that Povetkin should have relied more on his jab. Occasionally his offence went one-dimensional, as sometimes he sank in primitive power-punching attempts. Pretty much all his success in his career was scored with power combinations. Yet against Klitschko Povetkin's break-him-down-with-power tactics didn't work at all. Sometimes he kinda wanted to be like Mike Tyson, but Tyson was on levels better in cutting the distance. Povetkin had great left hook, right hand, downstairs-upstairs switching, but he mostly went directly to this stuff, only with some primitive faints, without any more ingenious setups.
The main problem of Povetkin's career, in my opinion, was his early promotion and coaching. And his team new that. Look at Povetkin's track to the top. He was in the elimination tourney for Klitschko's IBF strap and he won it by defeating Chris Byrd and Eddie Chambers. After that the Klitschko fight was nearly made, but Povetkin pulled out due to an injury, as it had been officially claimed. Soon after his original coach Valeriy Belov was changed to Teddy Atlas. It my opinion, it simply was a move to save Povetkin from possible hard loss to Wlad, to give him more time to prepare. Actually, even the Chambers bout showed some holes in Sasha's game, his team definitely saw it that way.
Atlas was a total mistake. His approach wasn't fitting to Povetkin at all. You can even see this during the Chagaev bout, when Teddy was saying Povetkin all his pretentious Rocky-movie styled nonsense instead of tactical suggestions. The fight itself was tactical and didn't have any drama, even in rare moments, when Chagaev looked better. Atlas looked like a clown. No surprise, that he didn't last long in Povetkin's team.
After Atlas the team Povetkin tried Russian legends, Alexander Zimin and Kostya Tszyu. Well, Tszyu was a strange choice, as he wasn't known as a great coach and he didn't become a one, that's why his time in the Povetkin's camp was brief. Zimin was an accomplished coach, in the pros he was known mostly for being a trainer of Yuri Arbachakov, but his methods obviously didn't work well with Povetkin. However, there was a belief in Zimin from the side of the Povetkin's team. With him Sasha was finally tracked to Klitschko, but we all know, how it ended up.
So, Povetkin had a very arguable track to the top. On the one hand, he was being put away from Klitschko for pretty long. On the other hand, he wasn't matched a lot against truly challenging opponents. He faced Chagaev after Ruslan had lost to Wlad, he was matched against Huck probably because this bout had been seen easy for him. He was facing the likes of Boswell, shot Rahman and Wawrzyk instead of other top guys. It was a typical "preserve 0" track to the championship bout.
After Povetkin lost to Klitschko his career finally went how it should had gone. Probably the main problem was in being managed by Sauerland. After Povetkin teamed up with Ryabinsky and coach Ivan Kirpa, he improved as a boxer and his career went upwards. The bout against Carlos Takam was exactly that kind of fight, which Povetkin had needed much earlier. It was a challenging affair, which made Sasha learn and progress.
Soon Povetkin was tracked to the other title shot, against Wilder, but we all know what happened. In my opinion, Povetkin just became a victim of the sports politics and general World politics of that time. Eventually, Povetkin was even justified in both his drug cases, isn't it thought-provoking? Talking about Povetkin's chances against Wilder, it's pretty fair to see a big possibility of Sasha KOing Wilder back then.
I'd say, 2014-2016 is a period of Povetkin's prime. It featured a KO winning streak over Charr, Takam, Perez, Wach, Duhaupas. He should have faced Wilder in 2016. In my opinion, Povetkin was simply robbed of a title shot. In 2017 years slowly started to show up for Sasha. He decisioned Rudenko and Hammer, whom he could have stopped at least a year earlier. He crushed Price, but not without getting rocked. Still he was able to give a fight to Joshua.
The final part of Povetkin's career was also fine. Obviously, Povetkin was already declined, but still he was able to have a draw with young and fresh Michael Hunter and to KTFO Whyte. It would be perfect, if Povetkin retired after the Whyte win, instantly after getting covid. Sasha had a tough course of corona and clearly he wasn't even at the level of the 1st Whyte bout, when he entered to the 2nd one. Anyway, it's good that Povetkin retired after the Whyte dilogy. Already not perfect, but still in time.
Talking about Povetkin's legacy, it's fair to call him absolutely best Russian heavyweight ever. He wasn't a champion in contrast to Maskaev, Ibragimov and Valuev, but he obviously was a better boxer than all of them, with a better resume. However, with devaluing of belts in the current century a lot of so-called champions can be easily exposed. Povetkin was a top fighter of the division for more than 15 years and he faced a lot of good names.
I'd call Povetkin Russian #3 p4p all time, following Tszyu and Kovalev. In my opinion, Povetkin did more through his career than Arbachakov, Lebedev and Gassiev, despite not grabbing any belts. Although Gassiev has a chance to overcome Povetkin, but I don't believe he will.
To sum it up, that's how I see Povetkin's career. He was far from being a perfect boxer, but he was very good at what he was doing. He was better than many formal heavyweight champions through all boxing history. He had some tracking problems early on, but eventually he appeared to be a long-term top fighter of the heavyweight division. He had a lot of memorable fights, win or lose. It would have been great to see him against the likes of Haye, Wilder, maybe Chisora and someone else, but still he had a very good resume with a lot of exciting fights.
So, what's your opinion about Povetkin's career? Could he be better promoted? Could he achieve more? Was his career satysfying enough?
) and winning an eliminator that early. That are not many fighters who started with such a speed, especially nowadays.
*exits*