By Jake Donovan
Andrey Ryabinsky's World of Boxing (WoB) has secured the rights to promote the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight title fight between unbeaten champ Deontay Wilder and mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin.
WoB - Povetkin's promoter - submitted a winning amount of $7.15 million during Friday's purse bid hearing at Grand Hyatt Miami in Miami, Florida. The only other bidder present was representatives from DiBella Entertainment, Wilder's promoter who submitted just over $5.1 million.
As per a recent ruling from the WBC prior to the purse bid - and for all sessions moving forward, 10% of the winning amount will be placed into an escrow account and made available to the winner. The remaining 90% will be split 70/30 in favor of the defending champion.
With that, Wilder is guaranteed to make just north of $4.5 million, while Povetkin will receive $1.93 million. The winner of the forthcoming mandatory title fight will nab the remaining $715,000.
There is no date or venue set for the fight, despite speculation that Wilder will now have to head to Russia for his next title defense. It could very well be the case, but was not immediately established at the purse bid hearing.
"World of Boxing has won the purse bid and how has 15 days to return to us the fight contracts with the date and location of the championship fight," WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman told BoxingScene.com immediately after the purse bid on Friday. "The fight must take place within the next 90 days (May 26, 2016)."
Wilder (36-0, 35KOs) will make the fourth defense of the title he claimed in a lopsided decision win over Bermane Stiverne last January in Las Vegas. His most recent victory came in highlight reel fashion, scoring a frightening 9th round knockout of Artur Szpilka this past January in front of a sold-out crowd at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Povetkin - who became Wilder's mandatory challenger following a 1st round knockout of Mike Perez last May - was in attendance for the fight alongside Ryabinsky. Not only did they have a vested interest in the outcome, but were also surveying the Barclays Center location as a possibility for their mandatory title shot.
Ryabinsky and Lou DiBella have been in talks on and off since last fall but opened up serious conversation immediately after Wilder's latest win. The WBC formally ordered the fight a week or so later, with February 26 penciled in as the deadline for the two sides to reach a deal or else be subject to a purse bid hearing, which of course became the case.
As talks progressed, it was believed that the fight would land in Brooklyn sometime in May. As such, Povetkin (30-1, 22KOs) - who captured Olympic gold in the 2004 Athens Olympics - would be making his stateside debut, having spent the duration of his career in Germany and at home in Russia.
With the purse bid results, there stands a chance that he remains at home, although that story will be told within the next 15 days.
Perhaps less surprising than the purse bid outcome itself was the relatively low winning figure posted. Ryabinsky and Russian business mogul Vlad Hrunov made major headlines when Hrunov Promotions posted a whopping $23.3 million to secure the rights to Povetkin's title challenge versus then-World heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.
The Oct. '13 bout landed in Russia, resulting in the lone loss of Povetkin's career but marking the start of a new relationship with WoB, who has promoted his last five fights. The most recent win came in a 12th round stoppage of Mariusz Wach last November in Kazan, Russia.
Hrunov was also prepared to secure the rights to Klitschko's mandatory title defense versus Tyson Fury. Had the ordered purse bid proceeded as planned, Hrunov would have won the rights as he was prepared to bid $18 million on the fight. However, his efforts were thwarted - and trip to Panama wasted - when a deal was struck between camps literally as the last minute.
Regardless, the amount posted on Friday was enough to momentarily put Wilder and his team - including adviser Al Haymon - on the defensive. A deal can still be worked out, similar to how Sauerland Event - Povetkin's former promoter - and Top Rank agreed to relocate a super middleweight title fight between Arthur Abraham and Gilberto Ramirez.
Sauerland won the right to promote the fight, but worked out terms with Top Rank to stage on the undercard of the April 9 rubber match between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley Jr. in Las Vegas, rather than in its home base in Germany.
In that vein, there remains time for the two sides here to reach a similar agreement, or for WoB to just go ahead and stage at the location of its choosing.
Whatever the case, Wilder's only options are to accept terms or vacate the title. As is his goal to fully unify the division - and with every other major titlist committed to other fights at present moment - it's highly unlikely he relinquishes a belt he has taken so much pride in representing.
Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox