take interim bout first. Povetkin vs. Fury 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. All of the officials had the bout exactly the same – 117–111 for Povetkin, who turned 40 two days later. Povetkin vs. Hunter Povetkin faced Michael Hunter on 7 December on the undercard of Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua II built Diriyah Arena in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. Both shared a split decision draw after twelve rounds, the first draw of each fighter's career. In the ring following the fight, Povetkin and Hunter spoke about their desire for a rematch to settle the score. The fight began at a furious pace as Hunter came out fast and rocked Povetkin multiple times in the first round. The two relatively small heavyweights traded hooks and did not hang around before jumping in close. Hunter's speed continued to trouble Povetkin in the second as he wobbled the Russian again, who stood firm and refused to wilt early on. Povetkin appeared to have somewhat weathered the storm by the third and fourth rounds as Hunter's punches had less of an effect on him and he returned fire with shots of his own. The tables turned for a moment in the fifth as Povektin rocked Hunter with a left hook. The 31-year-old staggered backwards and was seemingly kept up by the ropes, though no knockdown was given. 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. Hunter appeared to be landing the cleaner shots, catching Povetkin as he came charging forwards before utilising his own effective aggression. 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. Come the final session, the result seemed to be heading in the American's favour, but his lackluster efforts in the last minutes proved to cost him as the result was read out as a split decision draw: 115–113 Povetkin, 115–113 Hunter,