US, Russian heavyweight boxers square off in doping case
NEW YORK — Two heavyweight boxers squared off without throwing a punch Tuesday, as an American champion accused a Russian fighter of using a performance-enhancing substance implicated in his country’s larger doping scandal and the ban on tennis star Maria Sharapova.
World Boxing Council champion Deontay Wilder and his one-time challenger Alexander Povetkin were both in federal court in Manhattan for opening statements at a civil trial stemming from a breach-of-contract lawsuit Wilder filed after Povetkin’s failed drug test forced the cancellation of their 2016 bout.
Wilder, 31, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, entered the courtroom wearing a black trench coat and diamond-encrusted wristwatch, while Povetkin, 37, wore a drab grey suit. They heard lawyers ask a jury to decide whether a test result showing the Russian had taken the heart medicine meldonium was valid. If jurors side with Wilder on that point, he can move forward with a claim for $5 million in damages for losing a big payday for the fight in Moscow.
After the World Anti-Doping Agency barred meldonium at the start of 2016, Povetkin tested negative for it three times. But a surprise test before the Wilder bout came back positive. Wilder’s lawyers say that’s proof that Povetkin thought the negative tests gave him enough cover to get away with cheating.