good boxing ability. I'm ready to fight against any opponent." His promoter, Andrei Ryabinsky was in talks with several candidates. On 24 May, it was announced that Povetkin would fight Andriy Rudenko (31-2, 19 KOs), who was ranked 9th by the WBO; and 13th by the WBC and IBF. The fight was being billed as a "Battle of Russia vs. Ukraine", despite the fact that Rudenko was relatively unknown in Ukraine, where the fight was featured on rather smaller TV channel XSPORT instead of Inter. Rudenko was on a seven-fight winning streak following back-to-back losses to Lucas Browne and Hughie Fury. On 14 June, the WBO decided to sanction the bout and announced that the vacant WBO International heavyweight title would be at stake. Soon after the fight began Rudenko had problems right away. The fight almost came to an end in the first round after Povetkin accidentally hit Rudenko in the back of his neck with an overhand punch in the middle of a clinch. Rudenko spent five minutes complaining that he had injured his neck while Povetkin waited patiently in the corner to resume but fans in attendance began to whistle in displeasure at Rudenko whom they saw as feigning injury. The ringside doctor determined that Rudenko had a spasm and that Rudenko wanted to pull out of the fight. However the referee eventually persuaded Rudenko to continue. During the interval between rounds eight and nine Rudenko again wanted to stop the fight but his corner firmly insisted on continuing. Povetkin went on to control every round winning a one-sided fight on all three judges scorecards 120–109, 120–108, and 120–108. Along with the WBO International title Povetkin also won the WBA Continental title. Following the win the IBF re-instated Povetkin into the rankings for July 2017. He was placed at No. 13 ranking. Povetkin vs. Hammer On 10 October 2017, it was revealed that Povetkin would return to fight at the DIVS in Yekaterinburg on 15 December. It was rumoured that his opponent would be No. 2 WBO Christian Hammer (22-4, 12 KOs) in a title eliminator. #4 WBO Tom Schwrtz was also considered. Povetkin's promoter, World of Boxing stated the WBO International title would be at stake. At the time, Hammer was on a five-fight win streak since his last loss, to the hands of Tyson Fury in February 2015. On 23 October, Alexei Titov, executive director