After performing five consecutive defenses, he challenged Klitschko for the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring titles in 2013, suffering his first professional career loss by unanimous decision.

In 2018, Povetkin would challenge again for the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles, this time against Joshua, and suffered a seventh-round technical knockout loss.

His amateur success would culminate in winning the gold medal at super-heavyweight (>91 kg) boxing at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, in a walkover match over Egyptian Mohamed Aly.

He first pulled notice when, after compiling a perfect record of 12–0, he defeated veteran Larry Donald on 30 June 2007 by unanimous decision in Moscow in his 13th professional fight.

[27] On 16 October 2011, a fight between Povetkin and 42 year old American heavyweight contender Cedric Boswell (35-1, 26 KOs) was close to being confirmed for 3 December at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki.

French heavyweight Jean Marc Mormeck turned down the opportunity to fight Povetkin because he was being lined up to challenge then-unified world champion Wladimir Klitschko.

[28] On 21 October, Boswell confirmed that he had signed the deal and a day later, a heavyweight double-header was announced for 3 December, with the other fight being Robert Helenius vs. Derek Chisora.

[33][34][35] In December 2011, a deal was reached for Povetkin to make his second defence against then WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (34-1, 25KOs) on 25 February 2012 at Porsche Arena in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg.

[48][49][50] Despite rematch called for Povetkin vs. Huck, Team Sauerland firmly stated that as previously negotiated, a fight with former WBC world champion Hasim Rahman (50-7-2, 41 KOs) would be next.

[57][58][59][60] In April 2013, prior to a big showdown with Wladimir Klitschko, Povetkin chose to fight Andrzej Wawrzyk (27-0, 13 KOs) on 17 May, in a voluntary title defence.

"[63][64][65] At the end of 2012, the World Boxing Association ordered its super-champion Wladimir Klitschko (60-3, 52 KOs) to fight regular-champion Povetkin by 24 February 2013,[66] but the two sides couldn't reach an agreement.

[87][88][89][90] In August 2014 it was announced a deal was close to being reached which would see Povetkin challenge French-Cameroonian contender Carlos Takam (30-1-1, 23 KOs) for his WBC Silver heavyweight title.

[91] A few days later, World of Boxing promoter Andrei Ryabinsky stated the contracts had been signed for the fight to take place on 24 October at the Palace of Sports in Luzhniki.

[96] It was announced that Povetkin's next fight against Irish based Cuban contender Mike Perez (21-1-1, 13 KOs) would take place on 22 May 2015 and serve as a final eliminator for the WBC heavyweight title, held by American boxer Deontay Wilder.

[99][100][101] In August 2015, a deal was reached for Povetkin to fight once beaten former world title challenger Mariusz Wach (31-1, 17 KOs) in Kazan, Russia 4 November 2015.

Towards the end of the fight, with both participants cut, Povetkin urged the referee stoppage as he deemed Wach, who was being hit at will essentially, unable to continue.

Stiverne claimed he ingested a post-workout supplement called SUPERPHARM without knowing it included dimethylamylamine, but under VADA’s rules an athlete is responsible for whatever goes into their body.

[122] After Stiverne withdrew himself from the title claiming he would be heading home, there was ongoing talks for WBC Silver heavyweight champion Johann Duhaupas (34-3, 21 KOs) to step in and fight Povetkin instead.

[137] On 23 October, Alexei Titov, executive director of RCC Boxing Promotions who were working to organise the event, stated that he would attend WBO's annual convention in the next week and ask them to sanction the bout as a final eliminator.

[130][142] Povetkin outworked a survival-oriented Hammer to win a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision, in what was a final eliminator to the WBA title, held by Anthony Joshua.

[152][153] From April up until the end of June 2018, both camps of Anthony Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs) and Deontay Wilder were in deep talks around the super fight to finally take place.

[165] On 16 July, Joshua vs. Povetkin for the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles was officially announced for 22 September on Sky Box Office.

[166][167] In front of nearly 80,000 in attendance, Joshua overcame a short struggle, eventually coming out with a victory in round 7 through TKO to retain his world titles.

[175] By the end of December 2018, Povetkin recovered from elbow operations following his loss to Joshua and stated he would start a training camp in January 2019, hoping for a fight in April.

[179] Povetkin scored a twelve-round unanimous decision against Hughie Fury on 31 August 2019 at The O2 Arena in London on the Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Luke Campbell undercard.

Action died down slightly in the sixth but reignited in the seventh as both men traded in the middle of the ring and appeared to hurt one another with their respective power punches.

As the bout drew deeper into the second half, the pair simply could not maintain the pace of some of their earlier exchanges and things became scrappy at times.

By the tenth, Povetkin appeared to have expended all of his energy and in the eleventh he began to grab hold of Hunter while being repeatedly caught with right hands.

"[181] Povetkin was scheduled to face WBC interim heavyweight champion Dillian Whyte on 2 May 2020, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the date was pushed back to 22 August.

However, 30 seconds into the following round, Povetkin landed an uppercut which left Whyte laid flat on his back, prompting the referee to call a halt to the contest.