By Yuri Tarantin

Promoter Andrei Ryabinsky of World of Boxing says the negotiations are still going strong for the mandatory fight between WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin.

Ryabinsky, along with Povetkin, traveled to the United States to sit ringside on Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. They watched Wilder return his world title with a knockout of Polish contender Artur Szpilka.

"The discussions are going well, but the details are not yet ready to go. We have several choices from which I can select and I have to see how they would look. [One choice is to] fight in Russia. It would be interesting to stage the fight in America, because the local PR would be strong and that would be good for Alexander's development. But I see a lot of disadvantages for us. I think that within the next month we should have answers to all of these questions," Ryabinsky said.

The Russian promoter revealed that Povetkin has already started training with coach Ivan Kirpa. The fight with Wilder is expected to take place before the end of the summer. The final stage of the camp will be determined once the date and location of the contest has been finalized by both sides.

"We can say that Alexander has already started training. Now he will return [to Russia] and he will be actively training. We have a system of training which provides the required results, and I see no reason to change that. If the fight will take place in America, we will arrive there at least three weeks before the fight, where the final stage [of camp] will occur," Ryabinsky said.

Yuri Tarantin covers boxing for Allboxing.ru