Home Boxing News Alexander Povetkin comfortably outpoints Hughie Fury in lacklustre heavyweight bout

Alexander Povetkin comfortably outpoints Hughie Fury in lacklustre heavyweight bout

Alexander Povetkin versus Hughie Fury. Photo credit: Matchroom Boxing

Former heavyweight world title challenger Hughie Fury 23-3 (13) has again failed to breakthrough against a world-rated opponent with Alexander Povetkin 35-2 (24) easily outpointing him over 12 rounds at the O2 Arena on Saturday night.

The bout was on the undercard of the lightweight title clash between champion Vasyl Lomachenko and challenger Luke Campbell.

In a fairly dull affair, Fury has some early success with his lateral movement and jab, but Povetkin’s experience was too much for the defensive-minded 24-year-old to overcome.

Povektin opened a cut around Fury’s left eye and controlled almost all the action from the third round onwards.

According to CompuBox, Povetkin connected with an average of nine punches of 33 per round, while Fury was less active with seven connects of 25 per round.

The stats-collecting organisation said that the combined number of punches thrown and landed per round at 16 of 55 was slightly higher than the heavyweight average of 15 of 45.

The fight was a scrappy affair with all three judges scoring the bout the same: 117-111 for the 39-year-old Russian in his first fight since his knockout loss to Anthony Joshua almost a year ago.

Povetkin said: “That was a great fight, it was really difficult. I appreciate the audience for their support. It’s really nice to fight over here. My best regards to all my fans in Russia, we are the best.”

The loss will be hard to swallow for Fury, the cousin of former lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. He has now lost half of his past six bouts including his lone world title shot against then-WBO champion Joseph Parker in his hometown of Manchester and against Kubrat Pulev in Sofia, Bulgaria last October. Fury had his moments in both fights but ultimately lost on points.

Final CompuBox stats had Povetkin throwing 390 punches for 105 connects at 26.9% while Fury landed 82 of his 296 punches at 27.7%.