A new York jury ruled that ormer heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin took a banned substance before his world title fight with WBC champion Deontay Wilder last year, according to Dan Rafael of espn.com.
The jury took just 32 minutes to reach a verdict finding that Povetkin used the performance-enhancing drug during the leadup to what was supposed to be a mandatory fight against heavyweight world titleholder Deontay Wilder last May 21 in Moscow.
The fight was canceled nine days before the fight when a Voluntary Anti-Doping Association-conducted test found that Povetkin had meldonium in his system.
After the fight was canceled, Wilder and promoter Lou DiBella sued Povetkin and Russian promoter Andrey Ryabinsky of World of Boxing in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for breach of contract and at least $5 million in damages.
Ten days later, Ryabinsky countersued them in the same court for breach of contract and defamation, claiming they unilaterally canceled the fight before the WBC, whose belt Wilder holds, decided what to do.
“We won the case, and this is an important precedent in cases of this nature when a fight is canceled for PED use,” DiBella told ESPN. “The other participant in the fight has gone through all the work. Deontay was ready to fight, and this got canceled right before the fight. This ruling is a further disincentive for any fighter to attempt to get an unfair advantage. Our attorneys, Judd Burstein and Peter Schalk, did a tremendous job because this is somewhat complicated and scientific.
“Basically, it’s a great thing about our justice system that where the facts are on your side and you’re telling the truth, you win.”
DiBella said he was confident the defamation case would soon be dropped.
“I also think it’s a good bet that I don’t have much to worry about with their defamation claim, which was based on my saying Povetkin is a cheater,” DiBella said. “The jury said he is a cheater. I think it’s very telling that the jury only deliberated for slightly longer than 30 minutes.”
Ryabinsky could not be reached for comment but did write on social media, “Jurors in the trial were against us.”
“I’m in shock that they wasted the court’s time and their money fighting over something that was as plain as day,” Burstein told ESPN. “I don’t know if they were arrogant or just stupid, but whatever happened was inexplicable to me that they went forward with this case when the evidence was so overwhelming. [Povetkin] tried to argue this was the residual effects of taking meldonium in August and September of 2015. But it was a laughable defense.”
“Once that’s done, I will make a motion for summary judgment to get the money and seek other damages,” Burstein said. “I will also serve a motion seeking sanctions unless they drop the defamation case.”
Wilder (37-0, 36 KOs), 31, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was due to earn approximately $4.5 million to fight Povetkin. That money remains in an escrow account from before the fight, as does an additional $715,000 from Ryabinsky’s winning purse bid that is with the WBC and was meant as a bonus for the winner of the fight.
“They could have settled this case and kept some of the money and done enough clean testing that Deontay would have fought him, but they were so arrogant and they wouldn’t do it,” Burstein said.
