Alexander Povetkin is a famous Russian boxer, who during his career managed to become the Olympic champion among amateurs and the world champion among professionals. What is interesting about his biography and the personal life of an athlete?
Povetkin's biography
The future athlete was born on September 2, 1979 in the city of Kursk. From early childhood he began to engage in martial arts. He was taken to the karate section by his father, who was also involved in boxing, together with his brother Vladimir.
Then Alexander moved to the section of wushu and hand-to-hand combat. But in these martial arts he did not achieve success. After the collapse of the USSR, Povetkin began boxing, and at the age of 15 he became the winner of the Russian junior championship in this sport. True, after a couple of years he is defeated at the European Championships and suspends his boxing a little. But then he switched to kickboxing and won the title of European champion in this type of martial arts.
After graduating from school, Povetkin graduated from a vocational school in his hometown, specializing as a locksmith - driver. And also resumes boxing training.
In 1998, Alexander won the prestigious competition in Krasnoyarsk and received his first serious fee of 4.5 thousand dollars. Two years later, Povetkin won the Russian boxing championship. He is invited again to the national team. The peak of his amateur boxing career is the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. In Greece, Alexander wins gold and a year later becomes a professional.
From that moment on, Povetkin several times a year fights with the strongest heavyweights in the world. The first fight in the professional ring was Alexander against the German Ali Durmaz and won the second round by knockout. Then there were several victories in fights with John Castle, Chris Byrd, Eddie Chambers and so on.
But all his career Povetkin went to the main battle of his life against Vladimir Klitschko. By that time, the Ukrainian was already the absolute world champion in all versions. The fight took place in 2013. Vladimir had a clear advantage not only in height, but also in arm length. Nevertheless, Alexander must be given his due. The Russian boxer fought very desperately, but still lost. True, before this fight Povetkin defeated Ruslan Chagaev and received the world title.
Immediately after his first defeat against Klitschko, Alexander decided to change his coaching staff and change the promoter. During this time, he won several victories, including over Manuel Charr from Germany, Pole Mariusz Wach. Everything went on increasing. But in 2016, there was a doping scandal, in the center of which was Povetkin. He was removed from the competition and excluded from all boxing ratings. By this time, he was the main contender for the fight with Deontay Wilder for the title of world champion.
A year later, Alexander returned to the ring and won several confident victories. After that, he was reinstated in all top rankings again. Now Povetkin is preparing for a fight with Briton Anthony Joshua, who is the world champion in several versions at once. Probably, this will be the last chance for a Russian boxer to declare himself loudly.
Povetkin's personal life
Alexander does not like to advertise his personal life. He first married in 2001 to a girl named Irina. After a few years, their family broke up, which was due to the athlete's very busy training schedule. But Irina managed to give birth to a child, daughter Arina.
The second marriage for Povetkin became more successful. In 2013, he married Yevgenia Merkulova, who is his wife to this day.
