2013 : He faces Wlad for the biggest fight of his career but the corrupt referee ruins everything. Wlad could never have fought more than three rounds that way with a good referee and the fight would have been different. 2016 : He gets back into WBC challenger with 4 big performances (Charr, Takam, Perez and Wach, all stopped) but the Wilder fight was canceled at the last moment for doping. We can say that it's his fault but we know very well that others like Wlad and Joshua are doped and never positive. 2018 : Povetkin bows KO in front of Joshua but shows he had the style to defeat him. I think Povetkin 2014-2016 beats Joshua 7 or 8 times out of 10.
I think one of the biggest blows to his career was the foot injury he suffered while trail running on his way up the ranks. I think it was actually right before he was supposed to fight Wladimir in 2008 and apparently it was a nasty, nasty injury. I believe he suffered major ligament damage that kept him on the shelf for almost a year. The net result was not only that he lost the opportunity to fight for the title, but he had earned a title shot as a world caliber fighter but after his recovery he wasted like 6 or 7 fights beating guys of the ilk he'd been fighting since he was only 10 fight deep in his career. It amounted to a major waste of time.
This. I’d also add that his conditioning was never consistent. The Chambers and Chagaev fights said it all about how serious he was about his conditioning. After the Huck fight I knew he wouldn’t cut the mustard against Wlad. He had all the skill and physical ability to achieve far more than he did, but even Atlas hinted that Povetkin was lazy.
He's still better off as the likes of Tua and such, who were clearly better as a lot of beltholders but never won a major one themselves. And actually financially better off as most of them, making quite a lot of money in his career.
Its the case of being the right man at the wrong time in terms of being a great champion. His prime was during the second Wladimir Klitschko era, who is in the top 3 most dominant champions in the history of HW boxing. If Povetkin's prime had happened before Wladimirs second 10 year reign, then he would have been a world champion and defended his belt multiple times. If he had come along at certain points in the 90s and early 00s no doubt he would have been a champion and defended his belt multiple times. When you look at some of the other champions with multiple defences, Povetkin was a better fighter than many of them. The AJ loss was predictable as by then he was too old, and couldnt keep up the pace for a full 12 rounds. Timing is everything in boxing and Povetkin was unfortunate.
Naw. Its hard to feel sorry for Povetkin. He blew a lot of his career with inactivity, PED use, the WBA "regular" title, Teddy Atlas, and sub-par performances. I do think he is a very good fighter and had the potential to be great, but he made some bad choices and has no one but himself to blame for what he didn't achieve. Who knows? Boxing is a funny sport and if he sticks around he may get another chance yet. Maybe he will be this generation's Joe Walcott.
