Heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder will defend belt at home versus Riverside’s Chris Arreola on Fox

Deontay Wilder was prepared to travel thousands of miles for his next title defense. Turns out, he’ll stay at home.

Premier Boxing Champions announced Monday that Wilder will defend his World Boxing Council heavyweight belt July 16 against Riverside’s Chris Arreola on a Fox-televised primetime card from Birmingham, Ala.

The 30-year-old Wilder (36-0, 35 knockouts) was scheduled last month to defend his belt against Russia’s Alexander Povetkin in Moscow, but Povetkin wound up submitting a positive test for the banned energy-boosting substance meldonium to the Voluntary Anti-Doping Assn.

Also Monday, Wilder and his promoter, Lou DiBella, sued Povetkin and his Russia-based promoter, World of Boxing’s Andrey Ryanbinskiy, for breach of contract and other claims in U.S. District Court in New York connected to the money Wilder lost due to Povetkin’s positive test.

The World Boxing Council postponed Wilder-Povetkin to conduct a further investigation on the matter, and later stated Wilder had the right to make a title defense in the interim.

“I’m happy we were able to get a fight of some meaning out of this after everything fell through,” DiBella said Monday. “It’s going to be a fun fight. Arreola doesn’t make bad fights. These guys are just going to go at it. To me, it’s the most marketable opponent for this kind of fight. Chris poses risks as an aggressive guy who can punch.”

In Arreola (36-4-1, 31 knockouts), Wilder’s meeting a 6-foot-3, 35-year-old who twice previously has lost bids to become the first heavyweight champion of Mexican descent.

In May 2014, Bermane Stiverne scored a technical knockout of Arreola at USC’s Galen Center, and Arreola was also stopped by Vitali Klitschko in 2009 at Staples Center.

Arreola has long struggled with personal discipline, mostly his personal diet, but his December victory over Travis Kauffman was changed to a no-decision in February after Arreola tested positive for marijuana.

“In a lot of people’s eyes, this won’t be difficult for Wilder, this is being viewed as Chris being sent out to pasture,” Arreola’s trainer, Henry Ramirez, said Monday. “This is now or never, his last chance. I know that.”

The Los Angeles Times reported on May 26 that Arreola would likely emerge as Wilder’s opponent, and Ramirez said he’s had Arreola in training for three weeks in San Diego.

“I like Deontay Wilder, he’s exciting, but is he unbeatable? Absolutely not,” Ramirez said. “The people who didn’t like the Klitschkos, who called them boring because they’d win so easily, now say Deontay is horrible. He is able to rescue himself from trouble with one big shot.

“Chris has to get inside, put pressure on Deontay. The closer Chrs is, the better he can do.

“And I’m happy the fight is in Birmingham. I pushed for it. It’s a pain in the [rear] fighting at home. All the requests, all the people bugging you. We won’t have that.”