Boxer Deontay Wilder beats Alexander Povetkin in US trial over cancelled fight

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.

That question had become key to duelling lawsuits the boxers had filed against each other over the championship boxing match scheduled for May 21 in Moscow, which was called off after Povetkin tested positive on April 27 for meldonium.

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.