truly how good was Povetkin at his absolute prime?

Why not?
Beterbiev achieved KD with body shot in ams vs Usyk.
Nistor achieved KD and soon after this KO vs A.J.
Leg lazy Ruiz had achieved 4 KDs in row vs A.J.
While Povetkin, sorry was not lesser caliber am boxing superstar than Usyk and for sure had packed more 1 punch power.
Prime Povetkin A.J never had in the ring. Like prime Pulev too A.J never had in the ring.

Ofc ppl use to argue about Huck vs Povetkin fight. Huck wasn't former am boxing superstar, he was former world and euro champ in am kickboxing, this means he was tough bloke with 0 doubts and Povetkin needs good setup.
Former KBers btw usually does see setup moments a bit better than former am boxers cos they should care also about possible kicks AND initial setup phase usually is done with legs.
Prime Pov was till he turned like maybe 37.

 

Huck didn't beat Povetkin. He was hitting at the back of Povetkin's head all the time, no points. Povetkin, on the other hand, was punching him in the face all night. It should have been a wide win for Povetkin.

 

Considering Povetkin on his last legs beat Whyte before he was completely gone after covid, if Whyte is top 5-6 now, Prime Pov would be a threat to anyone except Fury who I think would be too much physically for him, except if Fury doesn't take him seriously.

I truly think Prime Pov could beat Usyk. Awful match up for Usyk really. An aggressive fighter who skill and power.

 

Olympic and World Championship gold medalist Povetkin shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence as Trevor Bryan (who made hard work of a shot to bits Stiverne). Povetkin was very unlucky that Wlad and Vitali monopolised the division when he was at his peak and by the time he fought AJ in 2018, Povetkin was 39 and over the hill; several years earlier Povetkin would have had a very good chance. Not winning a title isn't too relevant as far inferior fighters like Charles Martin and to a lesser extent Joseph Parker were gifted vacant belts in their backyards thanks to boxing politics but we're not giving them credit for that. Povetkin-Huck was close but Huck was an elite cruiser; they have proven they can give top heavyweights plenty of problems.

That being said, although Povetkin put together a number of very solid wins he does lack a signature win (although part of that is surely due to prospective opponents ducking him). KO'ing Whyte in 5 while shot and badly hurt at 41 in Britain was probably the best moment of his career and a testament to his remaining power, skills, experience and heart, even when his physical and athletic attributes had all but gone. The Takam KO is up there as Povetkin beat prime Takam far more conclusively than AJ beat the faded and short notice version but Takam's best career win may well be an ancient Tony Thompson, aside from that he went life and death with Parker in NZ and was beating Chisora up over 8 in Britain before he got iced. Povetkin's clear win over star amateur Chagaev was good as Chagaev had clear victories over Valuev and John Ruiz.

Povetkin had the best record of any Klitschko era heavyweight excluding the Klitschko's and Fury. There were plenty of times over that period when he was the 2nd or 3rd best heavyweight on the planet. He would have been more than a handful for virtually any heavyweight in history, with the exception of the biggest and best super-heavyweights.

 

Povetkin won the Olympic Gold on a walkover. He didn't fight anyone for the Gold Medal. The guy didn't show up.

As a pro, all his title belts were "interim," "regular" or "silver."

He didn't fight in an era with one champion. He was the #1 contender as early as 2008. And then his team pulled him back because they didn't think he could win.

Guys like Sultan Ibragimov. Oleg Maskaev, Nicolay Valuev, David Haye, Sam Peter, Charles Martin, Joseph Parker, Bermane Stiverne, Andy Ruiz and on and on and on all held actual (non-regular, non-interim) belts, for God's sake.

Povetkin was never good enough to become a world champion. That's it. And who knows if he was even good enough to win the Olympic Gold - he didn't beat anyone for that, either.

He challenged for the WBA, IBF, WBO belts twice, and was badly beaten both times. He challenged for the WBC title, and failed his PED test. He fought the result and was immediately thrown in to a WBC eliminator the same year, and failed his PED test for that, too. In 2016, he failed more PED tests than he passed.

He ACTUALLY (not by walkover) won a VACANT "regular" WBA belt with a majority decision over Chagaev.

The only time he actually beat a "reigning" beltholder for his belt in his whole life was when he got off the floor two times to stop "interim" WBC beltholder Dillian Whyte. Wonderful win in a battle of two of the most notorious drug cheats of their era.

Totally unexpected, as he was losing badly up to that point. (And he lost terribly in the rematch and retired.)

He was what he was. Whatever level a "regular" or "interim" champ is ... that's the level Povetkin was.

Good but not great. There's no reason to try to pump him up. If he was ever the "best" heavyweight OTHER than the Klitschkos, then he shares that with any number of guys who at one time were also the "best heavyweight other" than the Klitschkos for a period of time, and most of them actually won (non-"regular" non-Interim) titles, unlike Povetkin.

We can look at his whole career. It was a good career. Not great. When he challenged defending champions, he tended to lose badly or fail his drug tests. Lucky he didn't get a drug ban in 2016 (still, I believe most of if not all the orgs dropped him out of their top 10 after the second offense).

A longtime fixture in the division.

It is what it is.

 

He was a top contender who had decent power.

 

Somewhere between Klitschko and Wilder.

 

He was very good.

 

That uppercut would have KO'd almost anyone. You've got have a chin like Mike Tyson to be able to withstand being hit on the tip of the chin like that

Please, Wilder with his low boxing IQ would have fallen for that trap hook, line and sinker

 

He'd be a potential issue for anyone in history that wasn't on his A game. Not outstanding in any category, but solid in all of them.

 

If Povetkin's opponent doesn't turn up for the final for whatever reason it's not Povetkin's fault and he rightly wins the gold. Several of Wilder's wins in the amateurs were by walkover but you're not going to speculate whether Wilder would have beaten them: they didn't turn up so they lost. Povetkin won an array of high level amateur competitions, whereas Ortiz won the Pan-American games and the Cuban National Championships and could never even reach the Olympics because the other top Cubans beat him consistently in qualifiers.

If you want to talk about notorious drug cheats (for whatever that's worth: it's delusional to believe that massive A-sides like Wilder and AJ aren't juicing heavily or that Canelo was only juicing the one time he got caught) of the Klitschko era then you have to include Luis Ortiz in that conversation, as well as someone who failed to win any belts over an 11+ year pro career and lost twice by KO in his two attempts. Yet you ludicrously claimed before AJ fought Usyk that Wilder's win/wins over Ortiz are worth more than wins over star amateurs and distinguished pros Povetkin and Usyk put together. By your absurd logic, Charles Martin is better than Luis Ortiz so where does that leave Wilder's resume? With 35 year old Stiverne as the top name (with his best wins over Chris Arreola and not much else) and a shot Liakhovich (another belt holder) in 2nd. Povetkin's 5th round KO over Whyte while on his last legs is better than any of Ortiz's career wins. If a shot Povetkin losing badly to prime Whyte before he scored the KO somehow discredits the win, then many of Wilder's wins are discredited as that's practically his modus operandi against non-plodders, regardless of what the hometown American judges may say.

 

The version who beat Eddie Chambers was not all that impressive. He lacked sizzle. And then he became world class by perfecting the jab ... right into his arms.

 

In your dreams. Huck was a tickets seller in Germany and both of them then were under germans AND tickets sellers.

Was this Povetkin's fault?
How about Wilder in the games? U wish to talk how he get spanked?

Povetkin was world champion in World Championship in Thailand and no one with brains value Olympic Gold higher than World Championship Gold medal.
The main difference is that Olympic Games are 1X during 4 years cycle and World Championship is conducted in year when Olympic Games are not done: 3X during 4 years cycle.

And Who does knows how close Wilder ever was to Undisputed as a pro or Olympic champion?
Wilder get spanked and get Bronze medal.
Respect to him, it is really very high achievement and this deserves respect but if you will go so harsh vs HW boxers not named Wilder, then you will get you had asked to get here.

 

Beats bodybuilder and street fighter at the same night.

 

Jesus. You are all over the place.

First, Dillian Whyte was banned for two years for taking PEDs. Povetkin couldn't pass a PED test in 2016 before either the Wilder or Stiverne fights that year, and after the results were found, he was removed from all the alphabet org ratings for a time (and every Russian athlete that year was banned from the Olympics). Povetkin was part of a country-wide PED program. They made Oscar-winning documentaries about it.

Comparing heavyweight boxers who never failed any drug tests to an athlete who was part of a nationwide cheating program, and another fighter who was banned for two years, is laughable.

Povetkin is lucky he wasn't banned like Whyte was earlier in his career and like ALL the Olympians from his (Povetkin's) country were banned from competing that year. Jarrell Miller was caught in prefight PED tests before his last two fights (against Joshua and Jerry Forrest) and we haven't seen or heard from him since.

Second, Povetkin was given a gold medal when his opponent didn't show up for final. Lots of guys would've won the gold medal if their opponent didn't show up for the final. Ibragimov would've been a gold medal winner and along with actually WINNING a WBO heavyweight title. Paea Wolgramm would've won the Olympic gold medal if his opponent hadn't shown up. Richard Torrez would've won a Gold Medal if his opponent hadn't shown up. David Izon and David Defiagbon would've been gold medal winners if their opponent hadn't shown up. Baik Hyun Man and Willie DeWit would've been Olympic gold medalists if no one showed up for the final.

I'm not saying Povetkin wasn't a gold medalist. They gave him the medal. You are just throwing it out there like "how could I mention someone in the same breath" as an Olympic gold medalist when Povetkin fought no one to win it.

His opponent not actually showing up for the Olympic Final resulted in probably the BIGGEST accomplishment of Povetkin's career, unfortunately.

Maybe he'd have won all the heavyweight titles as a pro, too, if NONE of his opponents in title fights had shown up.

Unfortunately for him, he wasn't so lucky as a pro. Those champions showed up and beat him to a pulp ... or he got caught cheating before the fight and it was called off entirely.

He had opportunities to win actual titles multiple times, he just never won them.

He was a contender. At his best, maybe for some months here and some months there, he was third best.

But, like I said, others were third-best at different times, too. And most of them actually won WBC, WBA, WBO or IBF heavyweight titles, unlike Povetkin, who never did.

Ibragimov finished second in the World Championships and finished second in the Olympics, and won a WBO world title. He fought Wlad in a unification for three belts and got knocked down once and lost a decision. At one time he was probably third best, too.

Povetkin finished first in the World Championships, first in the Olympics (when his opponent didn't show) and never won a WBO belt or any major title. Fought Wlad and was dropped a half-dozen times and lost badly when he was third-best.

In the end, what's the difference? Except Ibragimov wasn't a drug cheat and actually held a a major heavyweight title, and Povetkin never did - except for his WBA Regular belt, the same one Trevor Bryan has.

In an era with four major titles, and despite one or sometimes two cracks at all four, Povetkin failed to win any of them.

He was a good contender. Nothing more. That's what he achieved. That's where he goes, somewhere in there with all the other 'interim' titlists who got multiple title shots at major belts and failed repeatedly.

Good but not great.