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The May 21st mandatory heavyweight title defense between Deontay Wilder and Alexander Povetkin will be headed to Russia - specifically the Megasport Arena in Moscow according to promoter Andrey Ryabinsky.
Despite some speculation that the fight might be headed to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, owned by Russian businessman Mikhail Prokhorov, Ryabinsky squashed those rumors on social media yesterday. Ryabinsky, Povetkin's promoter, won the right to promote the fight with his winning purse bid of $7.15M, and will bring the bout to his home country.
The Megasport Arena has a max capacity of 13,926 and last hosted a boxing match when Denis Lebedev won a decision over James Toney in 2011. Lebedev will also make an appearance here on the co-feature, taking on Victor Ramirez in a cruiserweight unification match for the WBA and IBF titles.
Deontay Wilder (36-0, 35 KOs) last fought in January, knocking out Artur Szpilka in the ninth round. Alexander Povetkin (30-1, 22 KOs) is riding a four-fight knockout streak since losing to Wladimir Klitschko in late 2013.