Comments Thread For: Wilder: I Wanted Povetkin on 1/16, He Wanted Tuneup

[OnePunch]

Mauricio Suliman said that Povetkin's manager told the WBC they'd be doing a big card in Russia in November with Povetkin defending his Silver Title. So Wilder was free to have a voluntary.

Like you said, it doesn't really matter because the fight has to happen eventually and then we'll see what's what.

yep. assuming of course that Wilder doesnt get knocked off in one of his voluntary fights lol

[JRB123]

Im talking right after Poevtkin beat Perez. At first he said he was going to just wait for the Wilder fight. But after Wilder indicated he was going to do a voluntary instead (Duphas), thats when Poevtkin opted to do the Wach fight.

I'm stuck at something here with Povetkin...after winning the fight against Charr then against Takam, he was the #1 contender to the WBC belt by the end of 2014. How was he not able to fight for the title once he got the silver belt?

If anything, Povetkin should have fought Stiverne instead of Wilder.

[Golden G]

The facts are very clear. Stiverne makes his mandatory defense in January 2015. Povetkin fights an eliminator in May 2015 to become the next mandatory, which would be due January 2016.

In June 2015, the WBC orders negotiations to begin in October 2015, for a fight to presumably occur in January 2016, one year after the previous mandatory.

Wilder schedules a voluntary defense BEFORE negotiations are ordered to begin, making him fully compliant with the WBC's order.

Povetkin schedules a "tune up" for AFTER negotiations are ordered to begin, defying the WBC order, refusing to participate in October negotiations and refusing to fight in January 2016.

Povetkin is the one blatantly ducking the fight, but because Haymon is silent, there is nobody setting the record straight, which allows Povetkin's side (and any anti-Haymon entity) to lie at will without repercussion.

Yo thanks for schooling me on this i had to relay this info to some cats that needed to know

[saintpat]

If Wilder wanted Povetkin why did he apply for a voluntary defence with the WBC?

Because Sasha's team sent a representative to the WBC Convention in China and said he would not be ready to fight in January, when the mandatory was due.

End of.

Here's the deal, and it's very simple.

Povetkin only became the mandatory in May when he beat Perez. He fought LESS THAN ONE ROUND. The WBC said the negotiation process and purse bids would begin in October. He could have fought a tune-up in August or September. He chose November, needing six months to recover from a 2-minute fight. And his own team said he couldn't be ready in January. No reason the champion should have to sit idle while the challenger needs until the spring to be ready, so Wilder was granted the voluntary in January.

All these people claiming Wilder should have fought Sasha earlier would make for lousy managers. Read the WBC rules: if it goes to purse bids, Wilder gets 70 percent ... and the Russians were publicly proclaiming that they were willing to throw $20M or more at a purse bid.

Do the math. Only an idiot would take the fight before the purse bid period starts, because (a) either it goes to purse bids and Wilder gets $14-15M or (b) the leverage of knowing that Wilder is going to claim 70 percent of the purse bid gives Wilder/Haymon the chance to bring the fight to the U.S. and, likely, still ge a larger end of the purse.

It's a business. Povetkin's promoter or manager said a couple of weeks ago that negotiations have begun, they want the fight in April or May and they're willing to come to the U.S. That's all because of the pending purse bid. Waiting a few months makes a huge difference in negotiations.