By Jake Donovan
If random drug testing is being conducted for his upcoming heavyweight title fight with Deontay Wilder, it’s news to Artur Szpilka.
The heavyweight southpaw is less than 10 days away from challenging for a portion of the division’s crown, headlining a double-heavyweight title fight bill at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Showtime will televise the event, one where the main event participants were rumored to have enrolled in a random drug testing program.
There was concern when the issue was raised roughly a month before the fight and event handlers noted that they were looking into it. Apparently the subject managed to get lost in the holiday shuffle, as at least one side has yet to be asked to – well submit a sample.
“I still wait,” Szpilka simply stated during a recent media conference call in fielding a question on the subject. “I don’t know why it hasn’t begun.”
Wilder claimed to have blood drawn at a LabCorp near his training camp when posed with the same question. However, the defending heavyweight titlist’s follow-up response left cause for pause.
“Whether it’s pre-fight or post-fight, there will be random drug testing done,” Wilder (35-0, 34KOs) insisted. “I mean, this is for the heavyweight championship of the world.”
Szpilka (20-1, 15KOs) comes in riding a four-fight win streak heading into his first title challenge. A win will make the 26-year old southpaw the first-ever Polish boxer to win a heavyweight belt. Among those who’ve tried in failed in recent years include Andrew Golota and Tomasz Adamek, the latter whom managed title wins at light heavyweight and cruiserweight.
Wilder makes the third defense of his heavyweight belt, coming exactly 52 weeks after unseating Bermane Stiverne via unanimous decision.
His win continues a trend of firsts/lasts in his career. The charismatic 30-year old boxer from Tuscaloosa, Alabama is the last American male boxer to have claimed an Olympic medal – capturing the bronze in the 2008 Beijing Games. The aforementioned victory over Stiverne made him the first American in more than seven years to lay claim to any portion of the heavyweight title.
Wilder’s first defense – a 9th round knockout of Eric Molina - took place in Birmingham, an hour away from his hometown and also marking the first-ever heavyweight title fight to take place in Alabama. His most recent victory – stopping France’s Johann Duhaupas in 11 rounds – also took place at home.
The showdown with Szpilka – paired with a 12-round vacant title clash between Charles Martin and Vyacheslav Glazkov – make for the first piece of heavyweight title fight action Brooklyn in 115 years.
Such an historic moment should carry higher standards, as Wilder has professed in the past to be a strong advocate of more stringent drug testing. It remains a sticking point in ongoing discussion with mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin, whom the heavyweight titlist has stopped just short of suggesting PED-use accusations in past interviews.
For reasons only the event promoters can – and refuse to – explain, such standards have not been applied this upcoming bout.
Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox