Povetkin Retains Mandatory Position To Wilder, For Now

Olympic gold medal winner Alexander Povetkin has retained his mandatory position to WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder - for now.

The World Boxing Council, in their latest ratings, has decided to keep Povetkin in the number one slot until their internal investigation concludes at the end of this month.

Wilder had been due to fight Povetkin on May 21 in Moscow before the Russian tested positive for meldonium, causing the WBC to postpone the fight indefinitely for an investigation. Povetkin was tested on May 17th by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) and came up clean. He also tested negative in three tests prior to the failure in question.

Wilder has since been cleared to make a voluntary defense by the WBC and officially announced on Monday that he was facing Chris Arreola on July 16th in Birmingham, Alabama.

"The WBC is still in the process of the investigation, and neither party has anything to do with this process. Deontay Wilder keeps saying things, Alexander Povetkin keeps saying things, and all we are doing is continuing with our process," said Sulaiman.

"We will make everything known in a couple of days, regarding the status of the fight and the division. We will make everything known regarding the outcome of the investigations. There are still some things that we are checking."

Ryabinsky is insisting that Povetkin ingested the substance last year, when it's use was still legal. The substance was banned on January 1. Povetkin's drug test from April 27th showed a trace of meldonium, but his tests taken earlier that month were clean. Ryabinsky feels the test from May 17th should clearly display to the WBC that his boxer was clean.

Earlier this week, Wilder and his promoter Lou DiBella filed a lawsuit against Ryabinsky and Povetkin for breach of contract, with a demand to pay Wilder's guaranteed purse of over $4 million.