Alexander Povetkin was going to be a difficult opponent for WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, even if Povetkin was squeaky clean and free of any performance-enhancing drugs.
With PEDs, the only choice the Wilder team had was to say thanks, but no thanks, and head back to the United States.
The WBC officially postponed the planned May 21 bout on Sunday, though one wonders what took them so long.
The WBC officially postponed the planned May 21 bout on Sunday, though one wonders what took them so long.
On April 27, Povetkin was randomly tested by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association. On Friday, news broke that Povetkin became one of more than 100 athletes this year to test positive for meldonium, the same drug tennis star Maria Sharapova admitted to using.
Povetkin’s promoter, Andrey Ryabinskiy, said that the No. 1 contender had less than 70 nanograms in his system. Povetkin had admitted taking meldonium, which was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency on Jan. 1, prior to it being made illegal. But Povetkin passed tests on April 7, 8 and 11.
Given the recent news about Russian doping in the 2014 Olympics as documented by "60 Minutes" and the New York Times, it hardly came as a shock that Povetkin had an illegal substance in his system. The bigger shock is that, unlike many Russian Olympians who apparently doped, Povetkin’s usage was actually discovered.
Wilder, who was training for the fight in England, wanted to fight anyway despite the positive test. Boxers, of course, don’t get paid when they don’t compete, and Wilder may legitimately have felt he would have beaten Povetkin regardless.
But not fighting is clearly not only the right move, but the only move Wilder could have made. This is a case in which Wilder needed to be saved from himself.
“Based upon Povetkin's positive test for meldonium, and with the health and safety of Deontay Wilder the paramount consideration, this fight could not take place next Saturday," said Lou DiBella, Wilder's promoter. "As a result of Povetkin's use of a banned substance and breach of contract, Deontay Wilder was deprived of an opportunity to defend his title as he had prepared to, on an even playing field. He and his team have suffered significant damages as a result.
“Any talk of rescheduling by Mr. Ryabinskiy at this point is unfounded and premature. Team Wilder will await further communications from the WBC and will weigh all our options given what has transpired.”
Any non-Russian going to compete in Russia in today’s climate is taking a significant risk. Under president Vladimir Putin’s regime, Russians act as if the rules don’t really matter.
Boxers have complained before about having their food tampered with when they’ve left the U.S. and gone to fight in Russia and Germany, among other places. And with the prevalence of doping among Russian athletes and the Russians’ proven ability to evade detection, it would be foolish for someone like Wilder with so much to lose to go there to compete.
The New York Times reported last week that at least 15 Russian medal winners were part of a state-run doping program during the 2014 Sochi Olympics. It was, the Times reported, “ … meticulously planned for years to ensure dominance at the Games … ”
The fact that Sulaiman said the fight is postponed and not canceled is disturbing. And it’s the second extraordinarily curious decision the WBC has made regarding drug testing in the last month.
In April, WBC super featherweight champion Francisco Vargas tested positive for clenbuterol, a banned substance often found in contaminated meat in China and Mexico.
Clenbuterol is on WADA’s banned list and should have meant that Vargas was automatically pulled from his planned June 4 title defense in Carson, Calif., with Orlando Salido.
Instead, the WBC made the decision to allow that fight to go ahead, with Vargas submitting to more regular testing.
Perhaps Vargas only tested positive because he ate contaminated meat. An April 27 Associated Press story datelined from Mexico City noted that “Mexican authorities inspected 200 slaughterhouses in 2015 and found clenbuterol in livestock at 58 of them.”
For the WBC, that was enough to allow Vargas to go on. But consider a memo sent to NFL players jointly by the league and the NFLPA, which Arizona Cardinals defensive back Patrick Peterson tweeted on May 3.
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That is in very clear opposition to the stance taken by the WBC in both the Povetkin case and the Vargas case. The WBC only announced the Povetkin-Wilder fight as postponed, not canceled, and it is going to allow Vargas to compete.
What is the sense of having an anti-doping policy if an organization ignores the result after a positive test is revealed?
After years of doping by its athletes, the UFC last year instituted an anti-doping program run by USADA that is the best in professional sports.
In other words, eat contaminated meat and, however unfortunate, it’s on you. Or, take meldonium when it’s legal and then have it turn up in your system when it’s now banned and that, too, is on you.
Paragraph 2.2.1 of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy handbook given to each athlete notes, “ … It is not necessary that intent, fault, negligence or knowing use on the athlete’s part be demonstrated in order to establish an Anti-Doping Policy Violation for use of a Prohibited Substance … ”
In other words, eat contaminated meat and, however unfortunate, it’s on you. Or, take meldonium when it’s legal and then have it turn up in your system when it’s now banned and that, too, is on you.
Athletes take meldonium because it sends more red blood cells to the tissues and thus provides a greater cardiovascular capacity than they would have otherwise had.
Does anyone not think that would have been of great assistance to Povetkin in Rounds 9, 10, 11 and 12 of what very likely would have been a grueling, hotly contested fight?
Of course it would have been, and that increased stamina in the closing stretch easily could have been the difference between winning and losing.
Given what has been going on in Russia, the likelihood of a foreigner going to Russia and being treated fairly is low.
DiBella and Wilder’s team made the only move they could when they told him not to make it an issue and try to fight despite Povetkin’s positive test.
If the last line of the second paragraph the NFL and NFLPA sent to its players were modified for fighters, it would advise against competing in Russia: “Please take caution if you decide to consume meat compete in Russia and understand that you do so at your own risk.”
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