Alexander Povetkin's name is getting hot following a sensational knockout of former contender Mike Perez on May 22, but that momentum is not going to be enough to make a September fight vs. Deontay Wilder happen.
Wilder's agent Jay Deas talked publicly about how long it would take to negotiate a fight vs. Povetkin, and how it would hold up Wilder's plans to be an active champion. Part of the holdup could be drug testing, which Wilder said would be a major issue for him as he hinted that Povetkin may be using performance enhancing drugs.
"When you are dealing with these other countries some drugs are legal in these other countries and sometimes they know how to take things out of a fighter's system to pass a drug test," Wilder said. "The drug testing will be a very big deal for me. I am a clean fighter. I do everything by the books. I expect my opponent to do the same. It's a shame that we still have people in the sport who try to cheat their way to the top."
Povetkin's manager Dmitry Ivanov had a lot to say about Wilder's allegations, and the current status of negotiations.
"Team Wilder issues media assaults and its not reasonable for us to answer their every rant and statement. We need the certain result of negotiations, the certain date. To say that the fight will take place in 2015 or 2016 is plain wrong. Anything can happen before that. Our entire team is ready for any fights possible. We know how to fight any probable opponent."
Povetkin is the mandatory challenger for Wilder's WBC heavyweight title, and has an arguably better resume than "The Bronze Bomber." Wilder is undefeated, but Povetkin's only loss came in 2013 vs. Wladimir Klitschko. Povetkin also has defeated a number of ranked heavyweights, such as Perez, Carlos Takam and Hasim Rahman.
Wilder has 12 more knockouts under his belt, but the only name fighter he's defeated was Bermane Stiverne in January.
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