Alexander Povetkin

It was the fake WBA belt though, not the real one.

 

Those WBA title fights were jokes: Cedric Boswell, a 40-year-old Hasim Rahman, Andrzej Wawrzek, a cruiserweight named Huck who probably deserved the decision.

I don’t think he showed much toughness in his fight with Wlad. Everybody talks about Wlad holding but Povetkin basically worked his way inside and … thrust both of his arms forward under Wlad’s armpits. What as the purpose of getting inside if he wasn’t going to punch. Heck, he didn’t even punch on his way to getting inside much. It was as clear a ‘I’m happy to be here, please get me to the final bell’ performance as I’ve ever seen.

Then he gets caught on PEDs … makes a massive crybaby protest, gets reinstated claiming he never took anything and … pops hot again on even worse stuff. Yet after that he still fought the fight he tested positive for (because the Russian commission is part of a corrupt doping factory) and fights Duhaupas who took the fight on one day’s notice and had to borrow shoes to even get into the ring.

I think he’s a complete disgrace.

Hall of fame? For what exactly? Losing every meaningful fight and having doing more juice than Ivan Drago?

 

I think that when you put it all together, he was the standout heavyweight of his era, outside of the Klitschko family.

However, don't view him as a belt holder, view him as an all time great contender.

 

Harry Wills didn’t deserve his shot. For a start he had one job, KO Firpo in an exciting fashion so there would be a big gate, no one wanted Harry after that fight that’s why Dempsey and he didn’t meet. Let it go Janitor!

 

Since you are being facetious, I will let it go!

 

You know I’m right you coward.

 

He got caught using steroids, but half the contenders of his era did, too. So did Holyfield.

He was one of the best contenders of the Klitschko era, although he never quite lived up to his hype. He was supposed to be the Klitschkos' successor.

I'd rank him at roughly the same level as Tim Witherspoon overall. Extremely good, somewhat inconsistent contender with excellent skills, who didn't quite make it to grabbing the brass ring.

 

Tim Witherspoon won a championship belt and acquitted himself well against the best heavyweight of his day (Holmes). He didn’t disgrace himself by TWICE getting caught cheating on PEDs.

And I don’t recall Holyfield failing a drug test, much less two. After the second he should have been banned for life.

He’s a disgrace.

 

I'm not really commenting on these guys' ethics when rating them on boxing ability. There are a lot of phenomenal athletes who got up to blatantly bad behavior. I don't really have an opinion on whether Povetkin should be in the Hall of Fame, either. That's more of a greatness question, which includes ethics to a degree.

On the other issues you raised:

Holyfield very clearly was on PEDs. As the "Evan Fields" situation demonstrates. I don't think Holy should receive extra credit for getting away with it. Holyfield probably *would* have been (formally) caught with PEDs if he'd fought in a regulated era comparable to today. There are stretches of the last decade where roughly half of the top 10 guys were busted on a drug test. (It's pretty ridiculous, actually.)

As noted above, Povetkin was a beltholder as well. Like Witherspoon, he could have inconsistent, lackluster, and unmotivated performances. Povetkin had his tedious fight with Wlad. Witherspoon admitted to throwing a fight. It happens. We don't like it, but boxers sometimes underperform.

All in all, I think he was the best non-Klitschko contender of the Klitschko era. (Byrd came a bit before that era, and was already past his best by the time Wlad really hit his stride.)

 

Povetkin didn’t get knocked out in one round and claim he took a dive.

 

I don’t see anyone dropping Jake LaMotta for throwing a fight (at least one, and who knows how many might have been fixed in his favor) and a ton of people on here who believe Sonny Liston threw one or even both fights with Ali still rank him as an ATG.

Personally I don’t have any strong feelings either way about Tim Witherspoon but in my mind he accomplished more than Povetkin and that’s the only way I really addressed him since another poster compared them.

 

Best heavyweight of his era bar the Klitschko brothers. Even Old Povetkin was a handful for top fighters.

 

Witherspoon was far better than Povetkin

 

Povetkin didn't have the luxury of fighting a fat Tony Tubbs for a belt.