By Igor Lazorin, tass

As previously reported, a United States jury ruled that heavyweight boxer Alexander Povetkin of Russia had been consuming meldonium after the performance enhancing drug was put on the prohibited list. Andrei Ryabinsky, who promotes Povetkin, plans to appeal.

"We have lost the case in the first court instance," Ryabinsky said in an interview with TASS. "The court was set to establish whether Povetkin was taking meldonium after the drug was prohibited."

"The jury somehow came to a conclusion that Povetkin had been consuming it [meldonium] after the prohibition," Ryabinsky added.

Povetkin told the jury in the US District Court in New York last week that he never used meldonium since it was banned, however he used it upon a prescription of his physician during a training session in Kazakhstan in the autumn of 2015.

The drug meldonium (mildronate) was included in the list of preparations banned by WADA from January 1, 2016. The presence of the meldonium substance in the athlete’s blood during and between competitions is a violation of anti-doping rules. The substance belongs to S4 class on the WADA blacklist (hormones and metabolic modulators).

Meldronate is a cardiovascular medicine freely available for purchase at pharmacies across Russia without doctor’s prescription.

Povetkin (31-1, 23 KOs) and WBC champion Deontay Wilder (37-0, 36 KOs) have been locked in a legal dispute over the title bout that was to take place on May 21 last year in Moscow, but was cancelled after the Russian boxer’s doping Sample A had tested positive for meldonium shortly before the fight.

Wilder's team called off the bout and publicly accused the Russian boxer of violating anti-doping rules, without waiting for a decision from the World Boxing Council (WBC). Povetkin and his lawyers responded with a counter-claim of libel.

Wilder, who was scheduled to make almost $4.4 million for the fight, was seeking a compensation of about $5 million for the cancelled event. The Russian side was seeking damages of $34.5 million to compensate for the harm done to Povetkin’s reputation, moral damage and costs of the cancelled fight.

Povetkin has been removed from the WBC's official rankings as the sanctioning body investigates the boxer failing a drug test last December prior to a scheduled eliminator with Bermane Stiverne. In that instance, he tested positive for osterine and that contest was also cancelled.

But Ryabinsky says the boxer will continue his career and target other titles.

"Of course [he will continue his career], we will arrange fights for Alexander, and he will box for other versions of the title and his career will continue," Ryabinsky said.