Alexander Povetkin has been ranked No. 35 on BoxRec’s all-time heavyweight list despite currently serving a four-year anti-doping ban.
The former WBA heavyweight champion was sanctioned after an anti-doping rule violation linked to ostarine from October 2014. Authorities ordered every Povetkin result from October 25, 2014, to October 2024 to be disqualified.
Despite that ruling, Povetkin’s full professional record still appears on BoxRec as 36-3-1, with the Russian listed among the 35 greatest heavyweights of all time. His position places him above names such as Jerry Quarry, Henry Cooper, Cleveland Williams and Jimmy Ellis, while only six spots separate him from Tyson Fury.
The situation has raised fresh questions about BoxRec’s computerized ranking system, which uses a fight-by-fight points model. The issue is not whether Povetkin was a leading heavyweight of his era, but how a fighter with a long anti-doping ban and a decade of results ordered disqualified can still sit so high on an all-time list.
Those affected results include wins over Carlos Takam, Mike Perez, David Price and Dillian Whyte, as well as Povetkin’s world title defeat to Anthony Joshua.
The debate also extends beyond Povetkin. Oleksandr Usyk is currently ranked No. 15 on BoxRec’s all-time heavyweight list, ahead of Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Ingemar Johansson and Max Schmeling, while sitting only 12th on BoxRec’s current pound-for-pound list.
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