Vitali Klitschko on Povetkin: He Lost His Credibility With The Fans

By Vadim Pushkin

Former World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko is almost as a loss for words when discussing the current situation with Alexander Povetkin (31-1-0, 23 KO’s), who is a former Olympic gold medal winner and for a short time held the WBA's "regular" version of the heavyweight belt.

Last Saturday morning, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman revealed that Povetkin had tested positive for a banned substance. The sample was taken on December 6th by drug testing agency VADA.

Povetkin was scheduled to face Bermane Stiverne (25-2-1, 21 KO’s) on Saturday night at the Ekaterinburg Expo Center in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Stiverne refused to go forward with the fight after the WBC refused to sanction the contest as a final world title eliminator.

After Stiverne withdrew, a deal was reached with Johann Duhaupas (34-4, 21KOs) - who was knocked out by Povetkin in the sixth round.  

This was Povetkin's second failed drug test in the last seven months. According to VADA, Povetkin tested positive for ostarine - which is very similar to an anabolic steroid.

Back in May,Povetkin was scheduled to fight current WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, but a few days before the fight was going to take place - it became known that Povetkin had tested positive for meldonium. Povetkin admitted to taking the drug last year, when it was still legal. The drug was officially listed as a "banned substance" in January of this year.

Back in 2013, Vitali's younger brother - Wladimir Klitschko - gave Povetkin a one-sided beating in a twelve round decision win which took place in Russia. There was a lot of pre-fight controversy over the drug testing for that contest. Klitschko refused to allow RUSADA - Russia's drug testing agency - handle the tests. Klitschko would not go forward until both sides agreed to allow the testing protocol to be regulated by the boxing commission in Germany. Klitschko made a smart move as years later RUSADA fell under a mountain of controversy with claims of manipulating testing results.

"Povetkin has lost his credibility with the fans. And in this sport that's very important. It's not a competition about who has better steroids or who has better doping. Everybody has to be clean and its the main principle in the sport. Its not good for boxing and not good for sport.