As an amateur, Povetkin won gold medals in the super-heavyweight division at the 2002 and 2004 European Championships, 2003 World Championships, and 2004 Olympics. After turning professional in 2005, he defeated Ruslan Chagaev to claim the vacant WBA (Regular) title in 2011. He challenged unified champion Wladimir Klitschko for the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO, "The Ring", and lineal titles in 2013, suffering his first professional career loss by unanimous decision. Povetkin fought unified champion Anthony Joshua for the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles in 2018, and suffered a seventh-round technical knockout loss, his only defeat by stoppage up to that date.