By Igor Lazorin, tass

As reported earlier on BoxingScene.com, World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman revealed that Alexander Povetkin (30-1-0, 22 KO’s) has tested positive for a banned substance.

Sulaiman announced on the social networks that he was informed by testing agency VADA, that Povetkin tested positive for ostarine, which is the same substance that Lucian Bute tested positive for in the aftermath of his draw against Badou Jack on April 30 at the D.C. Armory in Washington, D.C.

The WBC revealed to BoxingScene that Povetkin's positive reading stems from a test taken by VADA on December 6th.

He was scheduled to face Bermane Stiverne (25-2-1, 21 KO’s) on Saturday night at the Ekaterinburg Expo Center in Ekaterinburg, Russia.

The fight was a WBC world title eliminator and had the interim-title at stake, and the winner of their highly anticipated clash was going to become the mandatory challenger to current WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder.

The World Boxing Council issued a ruling late Friday night, that it was withdrawing it's sanction of the fight.

According to documents online, the drug ostarine may be used by athletes to assist in training and increase physical stamina and fitness, potentially producing effects similar to anabolic steroids. For this reason, it was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency in January 2008.

Stiverne has confirmed that he is not going forward with the fight and plans to return back home to Las Vegas.

"I am disappointed, this is the height of unprofessionalism. Now the fight is definitely not taking place. I'm flying home, but my career goes on. I think I will become the official challenger to fight with Deontay Wilder," Stiverne said.

Sulaiman also confirmed Stiverne's decision -  "Team Stiverne sent a message that they will not participate in the fight."

Back in May,Povetkin was scheduled to fight 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.

The WBC conducted a very long investigation, and they cleared Povetkin and approved him to take part in this eliminator with Stiverne. This time around Povetkin is going to face a very long suspension by the WBC if the sanctioning body finds him guilty of intentionally doping.

A few weeks ago, Stiverne himself came up positive for a banned substance in a random drug test. After a brief investigation, it was revealed that Stiverne had inadvertently ingested the substance from an energy drink and he was cleared to move forward with the Povetkin clash.