By Vadim Pushkin

Andrei Ryabinski, promoter of Olympic gold medal winner Alexander Povetkin, sat ringside on Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and watched WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (36-0, 35 KOs) retain his world title with a ninth round knockout of Artur Szpilka (20-2, 15 KOs).

Povetkin was also sitting and watching from ringside.

The World Boxing Council has ordered Wilder to make a mandatory defense against Povetkin, a former WBA heavyweight champion, in his next fight.

Ryabinski felt Szpilka was doing very well but then started clowning around in the ring and that allowed Wilder to start landing his punches.

"In this contest, Wilder did not show anything interesting. At the beginning of the fight, Szpilka was doing quite well. Then he began to behave in a nonsensical manner and he was punished for it. He showed off, had his left hand real low - and these are things you cannot do. This is not a situation where you show off. This is not no show. He needed to hold his hands up high," Ryabinksi said.

The negotiations for Wilder-Povetkin will be interesting. Wilder has refused to entertain the idea of traveling to Russia for the fight. If the two sides are unable to reach an agreement and Ryabinsky, a wealthy businessman, submits the winning bid and sets the location for Russia - Wilder will either have to vacate his belt or get his passport ready for travel.