By Chris Robinson
There has been a lot of talk in the media in the past few days as to the ringside presence of one Mustafa Ameen during last month’s Amir Khan-Lamont Peterson junior welterweight title bout in Washington, D.C.
Khan and his promoter Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions claim that Ameen interfered with ringside officials during the British star’s split-decision loss to Peterson and have an IBF hearing set for January 18th to discuss the issue.
Ameen was initially tabbed a ‘mystery man’ after videos of his presence at the fight surfaced but is known well by several boxing insiders for his connection to such luminaries as Muhammad Ali, Matthew Saad Muhammad, and most recently Michael Hunter, a standout heavyweight amateur prospect who is regarded as one of the nation’s most prestigious talents.
After a few hours of pursuing Ameen in hopes of simply letting him state his side of the story, we connected early this afternoon. Within minutes of speaking with him a few things became clear; Ameen certainly feels like he isn’t getting a fair shake by the media and he also is choosing to refrain from commenting in depth on his actions during the Khan-Peterson fight until the January 18th hearing.
What Ameen was able to comment on was his history in the sport, his insistence that he has nothing to hide, how he feels he has been treated unfairly by the press thus far, the people he has connected with in boxing, his plans for the Olympic hopeful Hunter, and more.
In his own words, this is the introduction of Mustafa Ameen…
Taking a different path…
“To be quite honest, there’s a formal hearing. Amir Khan and Golden Boy have requested a hearing to appeal the decision and I am going to participate in the hearing and I’m not going to take the path that others have taken and state by case on the internet and in the media. I think it’s important to let the facts be known and I don’t want anybody crafting a defense based on something that someone wrote on the internet on what I said happened. I will defer any explanation telling them, telling anybody else that’s an interested party at the official hearing.”
Nothing to hide…
“I’ve got nothing to hide. I’m not running or ducking or anything. I can discuss, without talking about the merits of what happened, I will just say that there’s a lot of misinformation. I’ve been called a lot of names over the past several days and that attacks my credibility, attacks my reputation that I worked very hard on in all my years in boxing. I’ll tell you that that part is definitely something I’m going to defend prior to the hearing.”
A span of twenty-four hours…
“I’ll give you an example, if you’ve been following it, two days ago there was a mystery man involved. And then, twenty-four hours later the mystery man is Mustafa Ameen. I was identified. I’m telling you that there was a bunch of crap immediately that this unidentified man, who was me, nobody seemed to know who he was, yet twenty-four hours later, everybody in boxing, including the trainer of Amir Khan and everybody else said ‘I know him’. But they didn’t know me twenty-four hours prior.”
Slandering of a reputation…
“There’s a lot of things that have been said, that have been put on the internet, which is why I’m going to refuse to fight my defense on the internet. It’s just unfair. I’m known in boxing circles, I’m not a secret. [It’s unfair] for them to slander me and undo all the things that I’ve worked hard for in terms of my reputation. I’m going to defer to the hearing and I’ve got nothing to hide. People know me through Michael Hunter and the IBF. I’m not a mystery man at all. That was a bunch of BS from the very beginning.”
His relationship with Michael Hunter…
“I think Michael, unquestioned, is the best amateur fighter in America. Michael’s not the best heavyweight fighter; Michael’s the best amateur fighter in the world. He will soon prove that he’s the best in the world. Unquestioned, he’s the best amateur fighter. Michael, I believe, is going to win the Olympics, the Gold Medal in the heavyweight division, and Michael is going to go on to be a champion. This is not what Mustafa Ameen is saying. I don’t know if you read Ring Magazine in the past two months. This is what Evander Holyfield says, this is what Wladimir Klitschko says, this is what Emanuel Steward says. The list goes on and on and on.”
2012 is the focus…
“Michael Hunter is no longer a secret in boxing circles. I’m not his manager. Michael and I have a partnership. We consult and I consult with Michael about our plans. 2012 is the focus. We’re focused on qualifying, winning the Olympics, and obviously moving from there. But to be honest with you, this whole situation is a total distraction because my focus is getting a gold medal. And the slander of my reputation is something that’s just not in the plan.”
Knowing the Hunters…
“I can half-jokingly tell you that I knew Michael before he was born. The way I can tell you that is that I knew Michael’s father, Mike ‘The Bounty’ Hunter, he was a professional fighter and I used to be the business manager for Matthew Saad Muhammad and I had him in camp as a sparring partner for Matthew Saad Muhammad, light heavyweight champion. We had nine title defenses. He was a great guy and a great champion. I knew him and then Michael’s grandfather; he worked in boxing all of his life, Norman Henry. Norman Henry worked with all of the giants in the business; Don King, Bob Arum, George Foreman; he was very close to George Foreman. He worked in various capacities with promoters and he was a matchmaker, so Michael’s mother grew up around boxing and I met the family. Michael’s grandfather Norman Henry was like a grandfather, like an older brother figure to me. He looked after me. Long story short, I was close to Michael’s family before Michael was even born.”
The choice to keep Hunter away from the amateurs…
“Michael grew up and a couple years back, Michael qualified for the Olympics in 2008 in Beijing. Michael got food poisoning and lost the qualifier and did not fight in Beijing. A lot of the powers that be were trying to encourage Michael to turn professional. That’s when I intervened and I took Michael to Germany and I took him to the camp of Wladimir Klitschko. And when I saw what Michael was able to do, in terms of his boxing ability, with Wladimir Klitschko, Michael and I agreed that he should hang around and win a gold medal instead of turning professional.”
A dream laid out by his father…
“There have been a lot of attempts to turn Michael Hunter professional. We have chosen, Michael and I, to continue to chase the Olympic dream that was laid out by his father. His father said that he wanted Michael to win a gold medal prior to his passing. We’re following the plan laid out by his late Dad and we’re chasing the Olympic dream. Michael is 23 years old and my relationship goes back long before Michael was born. I’ve known him since forever.”
Intrigued by the business aspect of boxing because of Muhammad Ali…
“I’ll tell you, what made me come a part of it from a business aspect is Muhammad Ali. People don’t realize what Muhammad did for the business people. Especially young black men like myself at the time. Once Muhammad had a black manager and people like Don King were born in the business, and we started having black matchmakers. People like Butch Lewis. There were a group of individuals that weren’t fighters who fought in the industry because of the opportunities. Muhammad Ali opened so many doors, not just for fighters, but for the business people. And I’ve always been interested in the business side of the boxing. I had a good relationship with Muhammad Ali’s manager and I was actually befriended by Muhammad Ali. It was Muhammad Ali directly who assisted me with getting in the business.”
Recollecting on times with Ali…
“I’ll tell you a little bit about my character. I was in London, I went on a book-signing tour with Tom Hauser and Muhammad Ali. We flew over to England and we started off in Northern Manchester and really worked our way down. It was a one-week period working various events. I have history in London with one of the most respected boxing writers along with Muhammad Ali. Matter of fact, I’ve got pictures of that. It puzzles me that I’m this mysterious guy that dropped out of a sewer and they say I tried to fix a fight.”
A rich history…
“I have a rich history, people like Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Matthew Saad Muhammad, on and on and on, people have known me throughout the years. They know my character, they know my involvement and I stand on that.”
