Michalczewski: I've lost 30 million!

[daggum]

As opposed to whiter than white American boxing! The kind of boxing which saw Rocchigiani have his belt illegally taken from him and handed back to Roy Jones.

i think it's worse that roccigiani knocks darius out then they disqualify him but boxing is a corrupt joke everywhere in the world.

[BattlingNelson]

Back in 1998, Roy Jones, the WBC 175lb champ, was told he had to make his next defence against either Rocchigiani or Michael Nunn. But Jones had his eyes on bigger paydays and vacated his belt with the intention of fighting at heavyweight against Buster Douglas. So the WBC had Nunn and Rocchigiani fight for their vacant title. Rocchigiani won, and was declared their new champion, even receiving a congratulatory letter from Jose Sulaiman.

Meanwhile, Jones' fight with Douglas fell through, and he moved back down to 175, so the WBC simply handed him back his belt, now declaring that Rocchigiani had only been an "interim" champion. Rocchigiani was understandably pissed at this turn of events, and sued the WBC, winning a $30m judgment, which would have forced the WBC into bankruptcy had he not settled for a compromise fee. Even today, most of what the WBC earns is used to keep up the repayments to Rocchigiani.

Just one of many squalid episodes in boxing history.

Great info man! I had forgotten about the lawsuit.

Karma given.

[Chase8400]

Sad to hear. It's happened to so many retired champions.

Maybe he will come back to fight Roy Jones...

I was thinking the exact same thing. They are around the same age, etc... and probably both faded as much as the other. I would watch that fight if it were free.

[medium-deek]

I just looked it up, and 30 mill euro comes up to 27 mill UK pounds. WTF? How could he have earned such a large sum?

[TRAVI$]

He was a white version of Floyd Mayweather: excellent defensive skills, but watching him puts you to sleep.

It's usually entertaining, but if you cannot appreciate Floyds FAR superior technical ability then i suggest you eat a bullet.

[!! Shawn]

You're right about Ottke. Ottke is also rumoured to having financial difficulties stemming from an ugly divorce.

Michalczewski was scheduled to fight Ottke last year, but he pulled out for a reason I forgot.

Still it's sad indeed.

Haven't these ****ers ever heard of a prenuptial agreement?

[Chase8400]

Well The Ring often has some great articles but the decision to make Jones the champ still baffles me.

Well, let's break it down. Who deserves a belt more? A guy who has a alphabet belt and defends it allot to mandatories or a guy who went out and unified several titles? Jones deserved the Ring title and you should know that as a boxing fan no matter where you are from.

[BattlingNelson]

Well, let's break it down. Who deserves a belt more? A guy who has a alphabet belt and defends it allot to mandatories or a guy who went out and unified titles several titles? Jones deserved the Ring title and you should know that as a boxing fan no matter where you are from.

It was a question of linearity. If one considers Virgil Hill the linear champ then DM was the champ as well. It was broken down earlier in the thread.

For linear champions you should check this out: http://cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/champ.htm

[TheGreatA]

It was a question of linearity. If one considers Virgil Hill the linear champ then DM was the champ as well. It was broken down earlier in the thread.

For linear champions you should check this out: http://cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/champ.htm

Not only that but Michalczewski unified the titles before Jones and fought pretty much the same opposition at LHW as Roy did, for example Virgil Hill and Montell Griffin.

[Dorian]

Didn't Mayweather make like 20 million with all the extras and everything in ONE fight?