Aleksandr Povetkin

Aleksandr Povetkin’s path to the Olympic title was strange in that he had already been a professional boxing champion but since that championship had been won in kick-boxing it did not affect his eligibility to compete at Olympic level. Povetkin switched to the conventional style of boxing in 2000 and was Russian champion by the end of the year. He won the European Championship super-heavyweight gold medal in both 2002 and 2004 and won both the World Championship and the World Cup in 2003. His final amateur career record was 125 victories against just seven losses. He became a professional in 2005 and based himself in Germany where he ran up a series of victories and by 2009 was a leading contender for the World Heavyweight title.