Longtime heavyweight contender and Olympic gold medalist Povetkin retires

Alexander Povetkin, who won a heavyweight world title but also twice tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs that caused significant fights to be canceled, announced his retirement from boxing on Sunday.

The 41-year-old Povetkin (36-3-1, 25 KOs), who won the 2004 Olympic super heavyweight gold medal for Russia, was a top contender for most of his 16-year career that began in 2005. He said he was done boxing in a video posted to social media and at a news conference in St. Petersburg, Russia.

“The years take their toll,” Povetkin said in translated comments. “I have all kinds of injuries that still need to be treated. The time has come for me to end my career.”

The 6-foot-2, 225-pound Povetkin scored one of his biggest wins when he rallied from two fourth-round knockdowns to knock Dillian Whyte out cold with a left uppercut in the fifth round to win the WBC interim heavyweight title in an upset last Aug. 22.

After the immediate rematch was postponed twice because Povetkin was still feeling the impact of having had Covid-19, they met again in Gibraltar on March 27 and Whyte dominated Povetkin, who was never in the fight and never looked steady, en route to a fifth-round knockout.

The only other losses of Povetkin’s career came in major world title fights. He lost by seventh-round knockout when he challenged three-belt world titlist Anthony Joshua, who dropped him twice, in September 2018 in London, and by shutout decision challenging Wladimir Klitschko, who knocked him down four times, for his three major belts in October 2013 in Moscow.

Povetkin notched several notable victories, including against former world titleholders Chris Byrd, Ruslan Chagaev and Hasim Rahman as well as former cruiserweight world titlist Marco Huck (by controversial decision), David Price, Mariusz Wach, Mike Perez, Carlos Takam, former secondary titlist Mahmoud Charr, Eddie Chambers and Larry Donald.

A unanimous decision win over Chagaev in 2011 netted Povetkin the WBA’s secondary heavyweight title, which he defended four times until Klitschko outclassed him in their mandatory bout.

But there was also major controversy in Povetkin’s career due to his testing positive for banned substances twice in Voluntary Anti-Doping Association random tests during a seven-month period in 2016.

A positive drug test for meldonium caused Povetkin’s mandatory title shot against then-WBC world titlist Deontay Wilder to be canceled on nine days’ notice.

Then Povetkin was supposed to face Bermane Stiverne for the vacant WBC interim belt but Povetkin tested positive for ostarine a few days before the fight. However, the test result was not revealed until about 20 hours before the bout. The WBC pulled its sanction and Stiverne went home. Despite the positive tests, Povetkin was still allowed to fight and he faced standby opponent and former world title challenger Johann Duhaupas, whom Povetkin knocked out cold in the sixth round in Ekaterinburg, Russia.

As an amateur Povetkin went 125-7 and was highly decorated. In addition to winning Olympic gold, Povetkin was the 2003 world amateur champion and the 2002 and 2004 European amateur champion.

Photo: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing