By Jake Donovan

It didn’t take long for Deontay Wilder to get over the initial disappointment of having to hit the road for his May 21 showdown with Alexander Povetkin. The unbeaten American will make the fourth defense of his heavyweight title, but will have to travel to his opponent’s backyard in Moscow, Russia.

There was the chance for Wilder (36-0, 35KOs) to fight at home, but his handlers came up short in a purse bid hearing held in late February. His promoter, Lou DiBella put up a generous offer of $5.1 million with the hope of landing the fight at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where Wilder last appeared in a savage 9th round knockout of Artur Szpilka this past January.

However, they were outbid by Povetkin’s team, Andrey Ryabinsky’s World of Boxing who put up a whopping $7.15 million to provide his client with hometown advantage.

“I’m still excited. Of course I’m disappointed that I don’t get to go back to Barclays where I just came off a knockout win in front of a sold-out crowd, but ain’t nothing we can do about that,” Wilder told BoxingScene.com during a recent training camp interview at Skyy Boxing Gym in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. “But I’m excited, the first ever American heavyweight champion to defend his title in Russia.”

It’s a continuation of significant moments in Wilder’s boxing career, both pro and amateur.

He remains the last American male boxer to have earned an Olympic medal, coming home with the bronze during the 2008 Beijing Olympics despite being the least experienced member of the U.S. team. Last January, he became the first American in more than seven years to own a piece of the heavyweight title, doing so with a career-best 12-round whitewash of Bermane Stiverne.

Three defenses have followed, including his headlining the first-ever (and second) heavyweight title fight in the state of Alabama. The watershed moment came last June, surviving an early scare to knock out Eric Molina in nine rounds in front of a sold-out crowd at Bartow Arena in Birmingham, less than an hour from his Tuscaloosa hometown.

He returned to the town three months later, becoming the first to defend a heavyweight title in primetime on NBC in 30 years, when he stopped France’s Johann Duhaupas in 11 rounds, the deepest he’s ever had to go in a fight in order to earn a knockout.

Now he’s the first American defend a heavyweight title in Russia, though with the task comes plenty of incentive. Wilder is guaranteed a career-best payday just north of $4.5 million, as per the 70/30 split from the available amount from the $7.15 million total purse.

Povetkin (30-1, 22KOs) will collect a guaranteed $1.93 million in his second bid at becoming a heavyweight champ. The 2004 Olympic Gold medalist came up well short in his Oct. ’13 bid versus then-World heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, having since won four straight, including a 12th round stoppage of Mariusz Wach last November in Kazan, Russia.

The winner will be entitled to a 10% bonus - $715,000 – that has been placed in escrow, a new rule introduced by the World Boxing Council in its efforts to put the “prize” back in prizefighting.

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Wilder said with an infectious wide-eyed grin. “That just makes me go want to do what I want to do even more.

“Extra money on top of money? That’s all you gotta hear.”

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox