FORMER world title challenger Alexander Povetkin has secretly been serving a FOUR-YEAR drugs ban.
And the anti-doping violation has cost him a DECADE of fight results.
Alexander Povetkin is serving a four-year suspension for a recently-discovered failed drug test[/caption]
Povetkin has had ten years’ worth of results scrubbed from his record, including his 2020 KO of Dillian Whyte[/caption]
Povetkin, 45, has been slapped with the sanction after it was discovered he’d previously failed a drug test back in October 2014.
An investigation by the International Testing Agency into systemic doping in Russian sports discovered a sample returned by Povetkin after his clash with Carlos Takam came back positive for Ostarine.
But he continued boxing as the positive sampe, which was retrieved from the Moscow Laboratory by the World Anti-Doping Agency, went UNREPORTED.
Povetkin tested positive for Ostarine and Meladonium – the drug at the centre of Maria Sharapova‘s doping scandal – in 2016 and was hit with a one-year ban.
But the uncovering of his failed test in 2014 has seen handed a four-year sanction.
A snippet of an ITA statement read: “After being notified of the case and informed of his procedural rights, the athlete decided not to challenge the anti-doping rule violation.
“Povetkin’s ban came into effect on October 21 2024 and will be in force until October 20 2028.
“In addition, the athlete’s results from October 25 2014 until the start of the athlete’s provisional suspension on October 21 2024 have been disqualified.
Alexander Povetkin’s legacy is now in tatters[/caption]
“Including the results obtained during a boxing match held on the night of October 24/25 2014.”
The wiping out of a decade’s worth of wins for Povetkin has seen his triumphs over Brits Hughie Fury, David Price and Dillian Whyte overturned to No Contests.
Povetkin, however, won’t feel the brunt of ITA’s heavy sanction as he hung up his gloves in June 2021.
Shortly after the announcement of his retirement, he said: “The years take their tolI
“I have all kinds of injuries that still need to be treated. The time has come for me to end my career.”
Povetkin has yet to speak on his second period of ineligibility, which matters very little considering the fact he’s retired.
But his achievements inside the ring, including his gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Greece, will forever be tainted by his two failed drug tests.
