By Luke Furman
As previously reported on BoxingScene.com, Olympic gold medal winner Alexander Povetkin underwent surgery in November to correct injuries to both of his elbows. The Russian boxer has already started working out, a little earlier than planned.
Povetkin was last seen in the ring on September 22 at Wembley Stadium in London, when he was knocked out in seven rounds by WBO, IBF, IBO, WBA heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua.
For the 39-year-old Russian boxer, this defeat was the second for him in the professional ring and the first knockout loss of his career. With 34 victories on his ledger, Povetkin other defeat came in 2013 by way of a twelve round decision loss to Wladimir Klitschko.
According to Povetkin, everything is back on track for his next ring return.
“I'm already physically fine (after the operation): I'm running, jumping. And slowly I've started to work with my hands. I think everything will be fine soon,” said Povetkin to Sergey Yaremenko.
Povetkin return is being targeted for April, possibly as part of the card being staged at Wembley which is going to be headlined by Joshua.
Joshua's potential opponent for the card if Dillian Whyte, who last Saturday night knocked out Dereck Chisora in the eleventh round.
If Whyte is not selected to face Joshua, then Povetkin has no problem with facing the hard puncher on the undercard.
“Of course, I would like a fight with Whyte to take place. Let's see how everything will turn out. Everything does not depend on me,” said Povetkin.
Povetkin is nearing the end of his career and wants at least one or two more fights before deciding to retire from the sport.
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.