By Rick Reeno
Ivaylo Gotsev, manager of former heavyweight champion Sam Peter, reached out to BoxingScene.com to respond to a recent story that appeared on this website, regarding the ongoing negotiations for an April fight with Tomasz Adamek. In that story, Adamek's co-promoter Ziggy Rozalski made claims that Peter and Gotsev were demanding a 50-50 split on the purse, and the television rights.
"Depending on the money offered to him, Adamek is ready to fight Godzilla, or even King Kong. But Peter wants too much. We offered him $150,000 dollars and he wants to get an even 50% of all income, including income from all of the television broadcasts around the world. Peter believes that he has a lot of fans around the world, mainly in South Africa, Nigeria and Bulgaria, where his manager Ivaylo Gotsev comes from. I told him - 'take the earnings from Bulgaria, it's all yours,'" Rozalski said.
Gotsev disputes Ziggy's version of the negotiations. According to Gotsev, there is no demand for a 50-50 split on the purse, and there was never a demand for a 50-50 split for all of the television broadcasts. The only mention of a 50-50 split from Gotsez, had to do with international television rights. Adamek-Peter has been ordered by the IBF as a first round bout in a planned four man tournament to crown the next challenger for chanmpion Wladimir Klitschko.
"Ziggy was very ignorant to the facts. The fact is, there were many discussions between me and [Adamek's co-promoter] Kathy Duva, and Ziggy was on one conference call. And obviously his ears were plugged or he was doing something else other than listening, because I never tried to negotiate a 50-50 split. There was a mention of 50-50 when it came to the international rights, but not with the purse itself," Gotsev told BoxingScene.com.
"I've been extremely reasonable in trying to make this fight a reality. We are not gong to stand in the way of making this fight. If anybody is going to blow this fight, it's going to be Team Adamek, who are apparently getting cold feet, because they are are realizing that they are going to face Sam Peter and it is a risky fight. The facts are clear, I'm a very reasonable negotiator and I've offered them a very, very fair deal. We want this fight more than anything."
"The IBF gave us until January 7th, and if negotiations aren't complete - then they are going to call for a purse bid. I'm hopeful that we can put our heads together and make a deal before January 7th. And yes we are willing to travel to Poland and fight Adamek in his backyard and his family members can be the judges. We have nothing fear. And I just want to say one thing, Sam Peter has never turned down a single fight, for any reason, in his ten year career as a professional fighter."
If Adamek decides to walk away, then Gotsev will try to match Peter with the hard punching Chris Arreola, who is ranked right behind Peter at number seven.
"I already called to Dan Goossen and I asked him just in case Adamek runs for the hills, if they are willing to put Chris Arreola in with Sam Peter. We are looking for the toughest opponent out there," Gotsev said.
