Skip to content
Home » Wilder unfazed by ongoing Povetkin lawsuit, meldonium saga

Wilder unfazed by ongoing Povetkin lawsuit, meldonium saga

The undefeated ‘Bronze Bomber’ faces tough challenger Chris Arreola at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama just weeks after his mandatory bout with Alexander Povetkin fell apart.

Povetkin tested positive for meldonium just over a week from their May 21 event, although has protested his innocence amidst WADA guidelines that allow certain amounts of the substance in a fighter’s system.

Meldonium was only placed on the banned list in January and WADA have given athletes until October to be completely clean of the drug. Due to this protest, Povetkin and his promoter Andriy Ryabinsky have filed a lawsuit against Wilder for loss of finance from the event which the world title holder stepped away from.

Despite the ongoing saga, which is still without a resolution as the World Boxing Council consider the findings, Wilder is the epitome of calm and is taking everything in his stride.

“I haven’t been on a close watch of it, but I’ve definitely been following it,” Wilder said on a conference call this week. “It’s ridiculous if you ask me. I’ve got served papers and everything,

“But I’m not letting it knock me off my game and my focus. It’s just part of life. I’ve been through worse situations in life than this. This is just another storm that I have to weather in my life. My skin is tough.

When you in the hurt business, you have no choice but to stay focused on the task that lies at hand. If you not focused, you can get knocked out.”

On his upcoming opponent for the next week, Wilder added: “Arreola’s been blessed with a third opportunity, and if I was him I would take it very seriously. Another reason we chose Chris, no matter what people say, the guy comes to fight.”