With Anthony Joshua locked in talks with Deontay Wilder for a massive undisputed unification since the end of April, Hearn met with Povetkin’s handlers Kornilov and World of Boxing Russia supremo Andrey Ryabinskiy to discuss alternatives.
Good meeting today with @Ryabinskiy @VadimKTeam @worldofbox today pic.twitter.com/uJHQkTx6BL
— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) May 14, 2018
Hearn went over the finer points of a potential mandatory clash with Povetkin last week in the event the Wilder conversations should run into trouble – which is now the case.
Joshua wants the fight staged in the UK despite being offered $50 million by Wilder and his team to head to the United States to defend his four heavyweight titles.
As things currently stand, unless Wilder backs down on his demand to fight stateside and agrees to face Joshua in the UK, Povetkin will come into play for the fall – as Kornilov explained.
“The meeting with Eddie Hearn went great,” Kornilov exclusively told World Boxing News.
“We are still ongoing in our negotiations for Alexander Povetkin to fight Anthony Joshua in September.
“The site and country is to be finalized soon but I am hoping we can get an understanding by the end of the month.”
On whether Ryabinskiy was worried about Joshua potentially reaching an agreement with Wilder for his next fight, Kornilov seemed calm in the notion that Povetkin would be fighting for a belt regardless of the opponent.
“I think that Joshua is willing to fight Povetkin, Wilder, or anybody. We just don’t know whether Wilder is willing to fight anybody,” he pointed out.
Phil Jay is Editor of World Boxing News. Follow on Twitter @PhilDJay