Former champion, Povetkin retires from boxing

Former World Heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin is retiring from boxing because he needs time to fully recover from coronavirus.

The 41-year-old told Tass news agency he is no longer 20 years old and it will take a longer time for him to recover which is why he has decided to call time on his boxing career.

He says the illness had made it hard for him to train.

Povetkin was WBC interim heavyweight champion until he was stopped by Briton’s Dillian Whyte in a rematch in March.

It was the third defeat of a career that yielded 36 wins, with the other losses to Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko.

The fight had been postponed from November 2020 after Povetkin tested positive for Covid-19.

Povetkin held the WBA title from 2011 to 2013 and also won gold in the super-heavyweight class at the 2004 Olympics.

[Source: BBC]