Heavyweight titleholder Deontay Wilder's defense against mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin was called off Sunday in the wake of Povetkin's positive test for the banned substance meldonium.
Wilder and Povetkin were scheduled for their much-anticipated fight on May 21 at the Khodynka Ice Palace in Moscow, but in a Voluntary Anti-Doping Association urine test conducted April 27 in Chekhov, Russia, Povetkin tested positive for meldonium. The test results came to light Friday when VADA sent letters to both camps and the WBC, whose title Wilder holds, disclosing them.
Wilder and his team have been in Sheffield, England, for the past two weeks training and adjusting to several hours of time difference.