Boxer Deontay Wilder beats Alexander Povetkin in US trial over cancelled fight
Heavyweight boxing champion wins a fight with Russian boxer in the courthouse in trial over a title bout that was called off after the Russian tested positive for banned substance
Heavyweight boxing champion Deontay Wilder has won a fight with Russian boxer Alexander Povetkin – not in the ring, but in the courthouse – in a trial over a title bout that was called off after the Russian tested positive for a banned substance.
After less than an hour, a federal jury in Manhattan on Monday ruled in favour of Wilder in a civil trial, finding that Povetkin ingested meldonium after a World Anti-Doping Agency ban of the drug went into effect in January 2016.
Lawyers for Wilder and promoter DiBella Entertainment Inc had argued that Povetkin’s positive urine test came after three negative ones earlier in April, which meant that the Russian took the drug after passing the earlier tests.
But lawyers for Povetkin and promoter Andrew Ryabinskiy’s company, World of Boxing LLC, said he had, like many other athletes, taken meldonium at a doctor’s direction before the World Anti-Doping Agency had even announced plans to ban it.
Judd Burstein, a lawyer for Wilder, said he was “extremely happy” with the verdict. Povetkin’s lawyer, Kent Yalowitz, on Monday called the verdict an “outrageous miscarriage of justice” and indicated he would seek to have it thrown out.
In June, Wilder and DiBella sued Povetkin and Ryabinskiy’s World of Boxing LLC, saying they were owed at least $5 million for the defendants’ breach of a contract requiring Povetkin to be produced for the match.
Povetkin and World of Boxing soon after countersued, seeking $34.5 million for what they said was Wilder’s own breach of contract for walking away from the fight and defamation for engaging in a “smear campaign.”
The World Boxing Council in August announced that, based on scientific and medical information it received, it was not possible to determine whether Povetkin ingested meldonium after January 1, 2016, when it was officially banned.
In December, a super heavyweight title bout between Povetkin and Haitian-born Canadian Bermane Stiverne was called off after the Russian tested positive for a different banned substance, ostarine.