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No Go For The Show/WILDER V POVETKIN POSTPONED

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No Go For The Show/WILDER V POVETKIN POSTPONED

UPDATE 4: From a disappointed Team Deontay Wilder:
MAY 15, 2016 – In the wake of the news on Friday that Alexander Povetkin tested positive for the banned substance meldonium, WBC Heavyweight Champion Deontay Wilder and his representatives have been made aware of the WBC’s decision on Sunday that the fight will not occur in Moscow on May 21.

“I’m very disappointed that due to Povetkin’s failed drug test the fight is not going to happen on May 21 in Moscow,” said Deontay Wilder. “I had worked very hard to prepare myself for this important title defense, spending the last two weeks training in England to get accustomed to fighting in Europe. I wanted to give the fans a great show, but we understand the WBC’s position that the fight occur on an even playing field.”

Povetkin, the WBC No. 1 heavyweight championship contender, tested positive for the substance in a urine test conducted by the Las Vegas-based Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) on April 27.

“Based upon Povetkin’s positive test for meldonium, and with the health and safety of Deontay Wilder the paramount consideration, this fight could not take place next Saturday,” said promoter Lou DiBella. “As a result of Povetkin’s use of a banned substance and breach of contract, Deontay Wilder was deprived of an opportunity to defend his title as he was prepared to – on an even playing field. He and his team have suffered substantial damages as a result. Any talk of rescheduling by Mr. Ryabinskiy at this point is unfounded and premature. Team Wilder will await further communications from the WBC and will weigh all our options given what has transpired.”

The 30-year-old Wilder (36-0, 35 KOs) and his team were supposed to fly to Moscow on Sunday for a week of preparation and promotion leading up to the fight. Now, Wilder will return home to Tuscaloosa, Alabama and await further information from the WBC.

“This is a huge disappointment and a setback to my goals in boxing. I want to be an active heavyweight champion and it is still my goal to collect all the belts and become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world,” Wilder said.

UPDATE 3: From promoter Lou Dibella:

“Based upon Povetkin’s positive test for meldonium, and with the health and safety of Deontay Wilder the paramount consideration, this fight could not take place next Saturday. As a result of Povetkin’s use of a banned substance and breach of contract, Deontay Wilder was deprived of an opportunity to defend his title as he had prepared to – on an even playing field. He and his team have suffered significant damages as a result. Any talk of rescheduling by Mr. Rabinskiy at this point is unfounded and premature. Team Wilder will await further communications from the WBC and will weigh all our options given what has transpired.”

UPDATE 2: The show is a scratch. It’s official. Per the WBC:

“The World Boxing Council is diligently addressing the positive test result from the Clean Boxing Program for mandatory heavyweight challenger Alexander Povetkin.

Keeping the priority of safety and also the principle of justice, the WBC will continue the investigation into the case. Consequently, the event scheduled for May 21 in Moscow is hereby officially postponed.

The WBC will be releasing more information in the coming days regarding the final ruling on the matter.”

UPDATE: It looks like the Deontay Wilder fight against Alexander Povetkin May 21 will not take place May 21, nor will Wilder find a sub to scrap that night.

Dan Rafael posted at 9:45 am ET an update which indicates the deal to scuttle Wilder-Povetkin is all but done.

The WBC boss Mauricio Sulaiman told me last night he was thinking a final disposition would be announced today.

I theorized yesterday maybe some event could be staged. But I think that last minute scramble, finding a foe, figuring out fees and TV, the whole nine, made it too onerous a task.
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The show must go on adage works in many spaces, for many reasons. Mostly, usually, because so much time and work has gone into some endeavor, that people are loathe to pull the plug on a deal.

Salvaging it is instinctual.

One might think that this show must go on mentality wouldn’t be applicable in the case of the May 21 Deontay Wilder v Alexander Povetkin fight which is, or was, set to unfold in Russia. After all, with Povetkin having been flagged for having the substance meldonium in his system, and with that chemical being known as an illegal stamina booster, why would Wilder agree to go through with his title defense?

Well, maybe because so much time and energy and effort and planning and money has been expended in putting the clash together…

That we haven’t heard that the May 21 title defense, which landed in Povetkin territory when his promoter Andrey Ryabinsky bid the most for the right to stage the title try for his boxer, makes me think all parties are in salvage mode. And would that look like saving the date by having a local heavyweight take on a challenge to the Alabaman? Or would it look like what it was going to look like, same as it was to be before we got word that VADA received a red flag sample from the Russian, who’d used the Sharapova stuff?

I have reached out to the WBC, to clarify the status of this crown defense. Boss Mauricio Sulaiman said that the issues are still being sifted and he hopes a final decision on how to proceed will come Sunday.

Other dealmakers on this mix are in silent mode.

Would it surprise me if Team Wilder said we’d like to not waste our date in Russia, and we believe our guy beats Povetkin, the hell with the stamina situation? Of course, our cut of the money pie must be adjusted for the trouble….

Some sort of show likely has to go on in Russia May 21….and maybe it will be the one we thought it would be at the start of the week.

Founder/editor Michael Woods got addicted to boxing in 1990, when Buster Douglas shocked the world with his demolition of the then-impregnable Mike Tyson. The Brooklyn-based journalist has covered the sport since for ESPN The Magazine, ESPN.com, Bad Left Hook and RING. His journalism career started with NY Newsday in 1999. Michael Woods is also an accomplished blow by blow and color man, having done work for Top Rank, DiBella Entertainment, EPIX, and for Facebook Fightnight Live, since 2017.