Frenchman Duhaupas, who recently won the WBC Silver title by knocking out Robert Helenius, took the fight at just twenty hours notice following the withdrawal of ex-world champion Bermane Stiverne.
Due to a position drugs test reported by the WBC, which found Povetkin has ostarine in his system, Stiverne decided not to go through with the contest as the World Boxing Council had withdrawn sanctioning.
Duhaupas stepped in only to suffer a fourth career loss and manager Mehdi Ameur says ‘The Reptile’ is in good spirits after being checked over by doctors in the wake of a punishing ending to the bout in Russia.
“We just had to have Johann checked but all is okay for him,” Ameur exclusively told World Boxing News.
“He accepted this fight, and Johann had to try to make the fight better without preparation. For sure, he needed more preparation to fight against someone like Povetkin but it was a very exceptional situation and we regret nothing. Johann is happy, he is a big boxer with big cojones.”
Asked whether he thought it was dangerous for Duhaupas to fight someone who had been found to have a banned substance in his body, Ameur answered: “It was a little dangerous, but Johan was training hard for a fight with Carlos Takam when this offer came.
“You get one chance though and one life and we don’t regret nothing. We took a chance, took the fight and it didn’t work out in the end,” he added.
It’s not yet been outlined whether participating in the Povetkin fight will mean the WBC also drop Duhaupas from the rankings, although his WBC Silver title will certainly be declared vacant after he lost.
