By Luke Furman, Alexander Pavlov
Alexander Povetkin (29-1, 21 KOs) made a statement this past Friday in Moscow, when he knocked out Mike Perez in 91 seconds in his final WBC heavyweight eliminator.
Povetkin is now the mandatory challenger to WBC heavyweight Deontay Wilder of (33-0, 32 KOs), who defends his title next month against Eric Molina.
The Russian challenger is represented by very wealthy promoter Andrei Ryabinsky, who two years ago bid a record $23 million dollars to bring Povetkin's fight with heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko to Russia.
If Wilder-Povetkin goes to a purse bid, Ryabinsky is one of the few who can outbid the champion's manager/adviser Al Haymon.
Povetkin has trained in the United States in the past, but he never fought in the country.
Ryabinsky is not ruling out the idea of having Wilder-Povetkin in the United States. He actually likes the idea of that scenario.
"We have already achieved such a level [in Russia] that we can fight abroad. It would be interesting [to have the fight] in the United States. We are serious about this fight with Wilder, but I can not tell you right now if it's going to be Povetkin's next fight," Ryabinsky said to Sportbox.
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org