[2][3] He is considered part of the Ukrainian golden generation of boxing along with other 2012 Olympic medallists Denys Berinchyk, Vasiliy Lomachenko, Taras Shelestyuk, and Oleksandr Usyk.

[2] He was a three-time national Ukrainian amateur champion, winning the title for the first time in 2009, beating Vyacheslav Shabranskyy in the final.

[7][2] At the 2009 World Amateur Boxing Championships, Gvozdyk beat two opponents before being edged out by German boxer Rene Krause.

He was eliminated in the preliminary bouts at the 2010 European Amateur Boxing Championships by Ainar Karlson of Estonia.

He defeated Belarusian Mikhail Dauhaliavets 18–10, Nicaraguan Osmar Bravo 18–6, and Algerian Abdelhafid Benchabla 19–17 before losing controversially to Kazakh Adilbek Niyazymbetov on countback in the semifinals.

[10] He won his debut, defeating Mike Montoya (5-2-1) via first-round KO on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley II on 12 April 2014.

Mohammedi fell face first on the canvas and the referee waved the fight immediately, giving Gvozdyk his tenth straight win and his first professional title.

Chilemba started to increase the pace, but decided to retire at the end of the eight round due to his hand injury, giving Gvozdyk the win.

[16] On 19 August, Gvozdyk defeated Craig Baker (17-1) by a 6th-round knockout on the undercard of Terence Crawford vs. Julius Indongo at the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska.

[18] On 1 December 2018, Gvozdyk knocked out Adonis Stevenson (29-2-1, 24 KO) at 2:49 of the 11th round to win the WBC and lineal championship, ending a reign that began in 2013.

Gvozdyk started the bout as the aggressor by peppering Ngumbu with short right and left hands, before landing a punishing overhand right.

[22] After the Ngumbu bout, Top Rank set to work on a unification fight between Gvozdyk and IBF light-heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (14-0, 14 KOs) for some time in Autumn 2019 on ESPN.

Beterbiev, a two-time Russian Olympian, had arguably been avoided by the other top fighters in the 175-pound division due to being a fearsome opponent who did not have name recognition among most fans.

It was feared that he had suffered a brain bleed, but testing revealed it was only a mild concussion due to the strikes to the back of the head he experienced during the fight.

During the training camp with Canelo, Gvozdyk realised his boxing ability had not diminished much, so he decided to make a comeback to competition.

In his first fight back he faced Mexican journeyman Josue Obando (20-34-2, 15 KOs) on 11 February 2023 in Pomona, California in a cruiserweight bout.

Midway through the sixth round, Gvozdyk found a clean left hook that dropped Bolotniks, who returned to his feet but was deemed unfit to continue fighting by the referee.

[28][29] Gvozdyk challenged David Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) for the interim WBC light heavyweight title at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on 15 June 2024.