By Yuri Tarantin 

According to Andrei Ryabinsky, promoter for Olympic gold medal winner Alexander Povetkin, they are not looking to take an interim-fight and plan to exercise their right to go for the WBC heavyweight championship against beltholder Deontay Wilder.

The World Boxing Council, in their latest ratings, has decided to keep Povetkin in the number one slot until their internal investigation concludes at the end of this month.

Wilder had been due to fight Povetkin on May 21 in Moscow before the Russian tested positive for meldonium, causing the WBC to postpone the fight indefinitely for an investigation. Povetkin was tested on May 17th by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) and came up clean. He also tested negative in three tests prior to the failure in question.

Wilder was cleared to make a voluntary defense by the WBC and he is now scheduled to defend his belt against Chris Arreola on July 16th in Birmingham, Alabama.

Wilder and his promoter Lou DiBella filed a lawsuit against Ryabinsky and Povetkin for breach of contract, with a demand to pay Wilder's guaranteed purse of over $4 million. Not long after, Ryabinksy fired back with a $34.5 million lawsuit against DiBella and Wilder.

Povetkin and Ryabinsky are planning to meet with the WBC very shortly and the Russian promoter is expecting a very positive outcome for his fighter.  

"We're not thinking about any other fight for Alexander. We are thinking about the fight between Povetkin and Wilder. By my logic, this is the right move. This fight should be organized before the end of the year, and we have to carry it out,"  said Ryabinsky.

Yuri Tarantin covers boxing for Allboxing.ru.