By Rick Reeno
According to Bernd Boente, manager of WBO/IBO/WBA/IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, a fight with WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck is certainly possible in the future, but also points out that there are numerous alternatives for Wladimir in 2015.
Huck is breaking away from his promotional contract with Sauerland Event. Their deal expires in April of 2015. He wants to move up to the heavyweight division to pursue Klitschko in a major fight for Germany.
Boente, under the Klitschko Management Group banner, has a tense relationship with Sauerland. The two sides are currently bickering as Wladimir prepares to face mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev, promoted by Sauerland, on Saturday night.
Based on the shaky relationship between Sauerland and KMG, Boente agrees that Huck would have an easier time landing Klitschko as a free agent.
"That's for sure [that he would have an easier time getting Klitschko without Sauerland Event]. You see it. So many different opponents, so many different manager. We've never had any problems with people and always made deals, but with those guys [at Sauerland] you can't," Boente said told BoxingScene.com.
"Knock on wood that everything goes the right way [on Saturday night], then there are so many interesting fighters like the winner of [Bermane] Stiverne and [Deontay] Wilder, Bryant Jennings is very interesting, the [Tyson] Fury and [Dereck] Chisora [rematch winner], David Haye who wants to come back. There are many, many people. And Huck is only a guy who is interesting in Germany, but outside of Germany nobody is interested. He's a nice guy and probably made the right move to be a free agent. In general he's a possibility, but as I've told you I see other names out there."
Another fighter making noise for a Klitschko fight is former heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs. The veteran is NOT making headlines from his recent ring performances with overmatched opponents. He is making headlines from his controversial confrontations with Klitschko.
In the last few months, Briggs has crashed media events in Florida and in Germany. Briggs confronted Klitschko in a restaurant. In one of his latest stunts, at a lake in Florida, Briggs used a boat to knock Klitschko off a paddleboard. Briggs is currently in Hamburg, where he tried to crash media events for the upcoming Pulev defense.
"The guy is absolutely nuts. That [confrontation with the boat] was more dangerous than what it showed on the video. Wladimir said [Briggs] was so close to that paddleboard," Boente said.
"I know that he gets information [on Wladimir whereabouts], from what I heard, from that online tabloid TMZ. They have people there in Florida all the time. When Wladimir goes out of the house, he somehow knows the reporters and they tell him where Wladimir is going. Over 7 million people watched this video, that different people put up on websites, with the restaurant [confrontation]. I don't understand that. This is what the guy wants. He wants everyone to talk about this."
"It's not the first time [where someone tried to bait Klitschko into a fight].....look at this crazy Chisora. He spit into Wladimir's face. They always want to get under Wladimr's skin. The same thing with Haye. They all do the same thing........PR, PR, PR. That is not made up [what's going on with Briggs]. The guy, at this moment, is not even on my radar. Everybody is talking about Briggs, but that's exactly what he wants."