By Yuri Tarantin
A few days ago, the World Boxing Council ordered a mandatory showdown for the WBC interim-heavyweight title, between top contenders Alexander Povetkin and Bermane Stiverne.
The current WBC heavyweight champion is Deontay Wilder (37-0, 36KOs), who is currently out of action as he recovers from multiple injuries that were suffered during last month's TKO win over Chris Arreola.
Povetkin and Stiverne have until September 17th to reach an agreement or the fight will be sent to a purse bid.
Stiverne (25-2-1, 21KOs) has been out of the ring since last November when he got off the floor to win a ten round unanimous decision over Deric Rossy. Povetkin (30-1, 22KOs) has also been inactive since last November, when he stopped Mariusz Wach in the twelfth round.
Povetkin was due to face Wilder in May, but the fight was postponed when the Russian Olympic gold medal winner tested positive for a banned substance. The World Boxing Council began an investigation which carried on for several months before ruling that Povetkin was capable of fighting for the interim-title.
Povetkin's promoter, Andrey Ryabinsky of World of Boxing, is not ruling out the possibility of staging the fight in the United States. Stiverne, who is based in Las Vegas, is promoted by Don King.
Getting a deal done with King may not be that easy, admits Ryabinsky. A few years ago the two promoters had a falling out when a rematch between Denis Lebedev and Guillermo Jones fell apart only moments before the two fighters were about to enter the ring. It was discovered that Jones tested positive for a banned substance and the fight was called off. Ryabinsky sued King in the United States and won a judgement of $1.6 million.
Ryabinsky says a fight in the United States would be crucial to raising Povetkin profile with the American fans for a future fight with Wilder.
"We have thought about staging the fight with Stiverne in America. We will discuss this idea. It would be very interesting to go to the United States against him. I would still like to see Povetkin fight Wilder in Russia. Stiverne is very dangerous, but easier than Wilder. This fight [with Stiverne] may very well be carried out in America, so that Alexander can get the experience of boxing in the US," said Ryabinsky.
Yuri Tarantin covers boxing for Allboxing.ru.
