By Rick Reeno
Promoter Andrei Ryabinsky of World of Boxing has confirmed BoxingScene.com's story from late Wednesday night, indicating that Polish heavyweight Mariusz Wach (31-2, 17KOs) tested positive for a banned substance in the aftermath of his TKO defeat to Alexander Povetkin on November 4th in Kazan, Russia.
The testing claim against Wach was issued by the Russian Boxing Federation.
Further, the Russian promoter confirms that Olanrewaju Durodola also tested positive for a banned substance. Durodola shocked unbeaten cruiserweight Dmitry Kudryashov with a knockout victory in two rounds - and Ryabinsky is moving to reverse that loss into a no-contest.
"I confirm that the Wach and Durodola tested positive in the doping tests," said Ryabinsky. "The result of the fight where Kudryashov lost must be annulled."
There is still no confirmation on whether or not RUSADA [Russian Anti-Doping Agency] was handling the drug testing for the fight. It should be noted that RUSADA was suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency on November 18th [12 days after the fight], after being accused of covering up positive drug tests for Russian Athletes.
The banned substance in question has yet to be revealed for either fighter. There is also no confirmation as to whether or not a second organization was present to regulate and oversee the testing of both fighters.
As stated yesterday, a source in Poland confirmed to BoxingScene that Wach has yet to be paid for the fight. The Polish fighter is disputing the test result and his team is investigating the matter.
Wach did test positive for an anabolic steroid in his loss to Wladimir Klitschko in 2012. He was suspended for several months and then returned nearly two years later.
"Wach has not been paid and it's been 34 days after the fight. There were countless excuses for weeks over non-payment and then all of a sudden a letter comes in on Tuesday, regarding a testing issue. This is very shady business and the matter is being investigated. Wach is clean as a whistle. He got in trouble once and he took his punishment. He is no dummy and he did nothing wrong here. If there was an issue, why did it take 34 days? Just look at the track record of what is going with the drug testing in Russia," the source told BoxingScene.com.
Ryabinsky and members Wach's team are at odds on the matter, but the promoter maintains that Wach was paid in full for the fight.
"I want to explain separately, that in spite of the positive doping test for Wach, we sent him his fee. We paid Wach, just to make it clear that we will always fulfill our obligations," Ryabinsky stated.
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