What do people see in Alexander Povetkin?

I think many rate him on what COULD have been because of how highly successful he was as an amateur.

 

Completely agree my pal!

 

a giant head the size of jupiter ... according to blizzyblizz

 

"cruiserweight Marco Huck (in a life-and-death fight that imo really exposed Povetkin)"

Huck was a long-reigning cruiser titlist, the size of a 70's heavyweight and top fighters have gone life and death with (and indeed lost to) far worse fighters than Huck.

"Many on this forum treat Povetkin like he’s one of the best of a generation of heavyweights, a force to be reckoned with."

He was. He was ranked as high as the 2nd best heavyweight in the world by Ring and was top 10 ranked for 14 years.

"Then he fought Wlad and got dismantled."

In a Greco-Roman wrestling match. Granted he should have done more, illegal if necessary.

"Alexander wasn’t a big puncher."

Takam, Whyte, Duhaupas and Perez disagree.

"He did get popped for PEDs twice."

Have a look at the list of American HoF's who've popped. Then factor in that Western drug testing will be less kind to Russians.

"He was knocked down and knocked around enough in his time that we know he wasn’t iron-chinned"

He was very tough. 39 when 6'6, 250 lbs Joshua stopped him in 7, his only stoppage loss worth mentioning.

Povetkin's team kept him away from Wlad for 5 years and team Wilder (in the opinion of many, including Fury) ducked him.

He's one of the best heavyweights to never win a title. He's arguably the most successful heavyweight of his approximate size/style since Tua or Tyson.

And his win over Whyte (8 years younger, taller, longer, 28 lbs heavier, eleven win streak) is among the best ever for a 40+ heavyweight and fantastic given the full context (1-1-1 in his previous three fights including a draw against Hunter, must have known that it could be his final fight, extremely high mileage, away from home, B-side, 3/1 underdog, well behind on the scorecards in the 5th, knocked down twice in the previous round, immaculate once in a generation one-punch KO).

 

"In particular, being as they both beat Wlad and Povetkin was completely dominated by him"

Had Povetkin fought a 41 year old Wlad rather than a 37 year old Wlad with the officials strongly on his side rather than strongly against him, it's entirely feasible he'd have won. And whatever Povetkin's demerits, I can't see him losing to Andy Ruiz. I also find it unlikely that a 40 year old Joshua would have avoided a loss to Hunter or beaten top 5 ranked contender Whyte, especially if he had to climb off the floor to do it.

Last time I checked the consensus was that Povetkin is better than Joshua. I think it's a fair position. I'd sooner put Povetkin in with Wilder than Joshua in with Wilder, for instance.

 

Huck had been stopped by Steve Cunningham and got a robbery "win" over Lebedev in Berlin before Povetkin.
Lebedev did better than Povetkin against Huck

Huck couldn't beat 40 plus Euro leveller Firat Arslan and won by another robbery. Couldn't beat Ola Alafobi in the remacth and barely beat him in the rubber.
Got ironed out by Glowacki.

Huck wouldn't last two rounds against Anthony Joshua

 

Good points, I updated my piece on Byrd's Vitali win based on your post:

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/byrds-win-over-vitali-facts-and-analysis.716100/

 

Getting on a plane to fight a guy in his backyard and turning around when the PEDs test comes up dirty isn't ducking.

 

You people do know that even the greatest of fighters have off nights, right? And if they still pull a win, that's a good thing? Just seeing if some of you folks really follow the sport.

 

I don't accept the official explanation. Team Wilder kept him away from any and all serious threats prior to 2018.

 

I’m sure they spiked Povetkin’s Gatorade too.

 

Do you think Wilder was a clean affleet?

 

Is that casual racism?