By Carlos Boogs

Former WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne had a feeling that something strange was going on last week - and then he was hit with the news that Alexander Povetkin testing positive for banned substance ostarine.

Povetkin’s interim title fight against Stiverne was due to take place on Saturday in Ekaterinburg, but it was cancelled after the World Boxing Council had revealed on Saturday morning that Povetkin had failed a drug test.

The Russian boxer’s doping sample from December 6 indicated the presence of the performance-enhancing substance. Ostarine belongs to the category of Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators (SARMs), which are therapeutic compounds that have similar properties to anabolic agents, but with reduced androgenic properties. SARMs were added to the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) Prohibited List in 2008.

Meanwhile, Povetkin’s mandatory bout against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, which was scheduled to take place in Moscow in May, was canceled after he failed a VADA test for the banned substance meldonium, which, Povetkin argued he had been taking before it was added to WADA’s banned list in January this year.

Last month, the Haitian heavyweight Stiverne also failed a random drug test for methylhexaneamine, a banned stimulant also known as dimethyamylamine or DMAA. DMAA has been on the WADA prohibited substances list since 2010. The WBC investigated and determined that Stiverne had ingested an energy drink that contained the substance. He was fined $75,000 and allowed to move forward with fighting Povetkin.

After Stiverne withdrew last Saturday, he was replaced by French fighter Johann Duhaupas, who was knocked out in six rounds.

"I was shocked when I heard the news, but when I arrived back home I thought about how it all played out and I added 2+2, it all came together.  Beginning Tuesday, they told me they have a replacement if I pull out of the fight, and they kept saying it throughout the week.  I actually thought it was something just to distract me.  But they seemed to know about it all week," Stiverne said.

"Then on Saturday morning, after breakfast, I went to my room to lay down and get some rest.  That was when I got word of what had happened so I called everyone on my team to my room and got Don on the phone.  Then Mauricio Sulaiman called apologizing profusely and told me it was my decision but they will no longer be sanctioning the fight because “our No. 1 priority is safety.”  That was all I need to hear.  The only reason I came over here was to fight for the title. They tried to talk to me [to go forward with the fight].  They spoke about how I failed a test.  But I told them that is two different things – mine was a 5-hour energy and he is shooting up."

"So we got online and got an earlier flight so we could get out of Ekaterinburg right away.  There were people following us since the moment we arrived – it’s hard to explain but it was like we were in a movie - so we discreetly left the hotel and made it to the airport.  We got a 5 p.m. ticket to Moscow, landed there at 7 p.m. then waited eighteen hours there for our original flight to USA.  We felt safe in Moscow; we just needed to get out of Ekaterinburg."

"While we were at the airport, I hear that Povetkin is fighting a French guy.  They knew all along he was going to test positive.  I now leave the matter to Don King and Mr. Sulaiman."