Monday March 7, 2005 14:05 PST
Barrett Replaces Rahman
- Steve Damato reporting
MIAMI, FL. - Thirty three year-old Monte Barrett (31-3, 17 KO's)of Queens, NY., will replace Hasim Rahman (40-5-1, 33 KO's), as Vitali Klitschko's next opponent, according to Promoter Don King, who made the announcement at today's Trinidad-Wright press conference in Miami. Rahman was slated to take on Vitali, but apparently turned down the offer of $1.5 Million.
Barrett is coming off a spectacular ninth round TKO over previously unbeaten Owen Beck last month in St. Louis. It was Barrett second upset of the year; in April he scored a split decision over the highly regarded prospect, Dominick Guinn (25-2, 18 KO's).
Got to say rahman never really wanted it?
....I just hopes it's really true because those guys have been known to jump the gun on more than a few occasions.
Yeah they do, but at the same time they have released breaking news that was true before everyone else. They were the first site to report that Lennox Lewis wasn't coming back when everybody was saying he was.
Oh, then thanks to Yogi for the news and pbds for correcting me.:cool:
....I just hopes it's really true because those guys have been known to jump the gun on more than a few occasions.
I think Vitali has an edge in this fight, but I think Barrett is a much better opponent than he is getting credit for.
He's all ways in better shape than Kirk Johnson was vs. Vitali, may not hit as hard but a better boxer than Sanders, and is all around better than Williams.
He may not be as good an opponent as Rahman, but still a quality opponent compared to the others Vitali has faced lately.
Having said that, I thought Barrett would have beaten Byrd.
As for the others, The winner of Golota/Brewster is supposed to fight the winner of Ruiz/Toney.
I don't know where that leaves Byrd. He should have fought Wladimir.
i cant see monte winning in any fashion.... its not like VK can't fight past 5 rounds... he has alot of late round KO's, donald, bean, sullivan, sanders, purrity.... VK's never been on the canvas, while monte's been all over it.... monte lost to the 2 really tall guys he fought(wlad, whitaker)... and lastly its a big step up from fighting owen beck and joe mesi to fighting VK....
I dont think Rahman was afraid . . he was just trying to get King to fork over some more money. King called his bluff and simply canned him. Thats how business goes sometimes. Rahman has always been a horrible businessman. He could have made MILLIONS fighting for HBO with Kushner and a Tyson fight but instead he gets cash under the table, signs with King, fights Lewis again, and gets obliterated.
Barrett has a VERY slim chance to win. He has little power, and while a solid boxer is nothing special. It should be a better fight then the Williams debacle, as Barrett at least always comes in top shape. Fighting someone in fighting condition will be a new experience for Vitali as of his last 4-5 fights, and if it goes past the 5th round with Barrett still fresh and not badly hurt, it COULD get interesting . .
With the heavyweight division in the state that it is in, why don't they just give us (the fans) the fights we want to see? I mean most of the champions and contenders suck anyway, at least let us see the ones who aren't so sucky (and have a little public appeal) fight. People who aren't really in to boxing will be like, "Who the fuck is Monte Barret?" At least with Rahman he can always be remembered as the guy who knocked out Lewis..
Good call! No wonder boxing isn't as popular as it used to be, the higher powers in boxing are fucking the fans over big time!
Guys, as far as I know, if no contract is signed, the mandatory defence goes to the purse bid. I've already read about the purse bid deal in a few places, nobody is just going to throw Barrett in there out of nowhere. If it is true, however, I think we will see this in 2012: 20th WBC title defense by Klichko ends by TKO 8 :D
Apparently they are sueing Rahman.
DKP/Burstein Ready To Sue Rahman!
By G. Leon
March 08, 2005 - "I have a lawsuit drafted on my desk for declaration that in the abscence of DKP's consent Hasim Rahman cannot participate in a purse-bid bout won by another promoter. Just as the public record shows that Lennox Lewis was barred by his HBO contract from fighting Mike Tyson on Showtime, Hasim Rahman has no right to fight anyone unless he has DKP's consent. In contrast to his prior contract with Cedric Kushner, which explicitly provided that Rahman would be released from his contract to fight in a purse bid bout, Rahman's subsequent contract with DKP does not give Rahman a similar right," said Don King's attorney Judd Burstein.
This news is a bunch of bullshit
Guys, as far as I know, if no contract is signed, the mandatory defence goes to the purse bid. I've already read about the purse bid deal in a few places, nobody is just going to throw Barrett in there out of nowhere. If it is true, however, I think we will see this in 2012: 20th WBC title defense by Klichko ends by TKO 8 :D
Ruiz was calling out Vitali before his fight with Williams and then after the fight he was silent.
Yawn. Jane Louise, calling out the heavyweight champion? Easily boxings most boring moment.
You could take a "snapshot" of the HW division, and fall asleep before you take the picture.
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And the heavyweight sucking just continues. At this point I'm convinced that everyone is afraid of Vitali a.k.a. Lurch.
I agree. Byrd as shown by the Wlad fight is all talk, and now we have Rahman. Ruiz was calling out Vitali before his fight with Williams and then after the fight he was silent. And Toney was really quiet when the WBC all of the sudden took away his mandatory position to fight VK.
Even if Vitali KO Barrett this will be a good finacial option for him. I think also that Barrett can still be high in the IBF ranking and have a straight title shot over there.