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"Russian Mogul billionaire plans to take over boxing"
MOSCOW MOGUL RUSHING TO GET IBRAGIMOV TITLE SHOT!
By Michael Marley courtesy of Fightnightnews.com
The Russians aren't coming. They already here and people are being playful about how Russian fighters are going to control the heavyweight division. You might think we were going back to
the bad, old days when Nikita Khruschev was ****ing his shoe on the table at the United Nations, to the era of the Cold War, Gary U-2 Powers, spies and spy planes and the battle between our astronauts and the Soviet Union's cosmonauts for supremacy in outer space.
Fact: Wladimir Klitchscko is the IBF champ at least until Nov. 11, when Shannon Briggs vows to snatch that crown.
Suleiman Kerimov
Fact: Sergei Liakhovich, the "White Wolf," completed dismantled hard-puncher Lamon Brewster to corral the WB) heavyweight title.
Fact: Sauerland Events in Germany is now co-promoting King Kongish (is that a word in any language?) WBA champ, the 7-foot-tall, 320 pound Nickolay Valuev. Valuev will probably fight challenger Monte "Three Card" Barrett Oct. 7 at the Garden.
Fact: The only non-Russian (OK, Liakhovich is actually from Belarus, same thing) world heavyweight champ extant is American and WBC king Hasim Rahman and, on Aug. 12, he defends in Vegas against Russian Oleg Maskaev, who already owns a KO victory over him.
Fallacy: That any of these Russian ring behemoths pose a real threat to American hedgemony or heavyweight supremacy. But there is a Russian billionaire who has plans to take over not only the heavyweight thrones, but the entire sport/business.
Ladies and gentlemen, in this corner let Comrade Michael Marley introduce you to the man who would be King, and I don't mean just the new Don King, of All Boxing and All World Titles.
His name is Suleiman Kerimov and Forbes magazine, which ranks rich people like The Ring ranks fighters, has listed him as the 72ND RICHEST PERSON IN THE WHOLE WORD WITH AN ESTIMATED NET WOTH OF--HOLD YOUR BREATH--SEVEN POINT ONE BILLION DOLLARS. That 's. 7.1 BILLION BUCKS.
Forbes also said this year that Kerimov owned or does own Vnukovo Airlines; Murmansk Airport; Avtobank; Nosta metal plant and Ingosstrakh Insurance Company, as well as a huge stake in preferred shares in Transneft, the oil-transportation monopoly. That, since 2004, Kerimov has gobbled up shares in Gazprom, world's largest natural gas producer and Sberbank (biggest retail bank in Russia) which form the core of his wealth.
Let's be clear, the man behind heavyweight contender Sultan Ibragimov, manager Boris Grinberg and Golden Grain Promotions is a straight up capitalist. He is no follower of Marx, either Groucho or Karl, and he could buy and sell you, or at least me.
He could at least rent King, Bob Arum and Golden Boy Oscar de la Hoya. No wonder trainer Carlos "Panama" Lewis, who trains Sultan and Timur Ibragimov, is sporting fresh, sparkling bling bling.
He's about 40-years-old. Forbes, in 2004, rated his net worth at about FIVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY MILLION DOLLARS (what's that in rubles?). His fortune comes from the oil business and an affiliated company named FK Kapital. He was elected to and serves in the Russian parliament.
And you thought Al "Man Behind The HBO Curtain" Haymon was mysterious. Kerimov has totally eluded the boxing limelight. Until this column, anyway.
As you know, Sultan fights "Rain Man" Ray Austin on ESPN 2 Friday night at the Seminole Hard Rock in Florida with the winner getting a mandatory contender position for Klitschko's crown.
The IBF conducted its typical purse bid to decide who would promote this fight. As we also know, fighters on the cheap ESPN 2 cards, where the promoter usually gets a check of less than $20,000 as a fee from the network, typically make $7,500 to $10,000 for fighting in the main event.
Ibragimov-Austin is a little different because Don King Promotions was the losing bidder with a $100,000 offering.
Then Neon Leon Margules and Warriors Boxing, fronting for Kerimov and Golden Grain, handed his little envelope over to IBF officials.
Eyes bugged out as the winning bid was $850,000 or $750,000 more than King bid. Some people thought Margules or his Seminole employers had gone temporarily insane, perhaps from the constant jingle-jangle of the slot machines.
But all that money comes from Kerimov's coffers. And so on Friday night, Austin's purse is 75 percent of that, about $625,000 minus of course the majority share which Uncle Don will be quick to subtract, while Iggy gets the balance or about 25 percent. (Austin had the higher ranking.)
The Russian Ras***** isn't coming to boxing. Suleiman Kerimov is here already and he means business, serious business.
I wonder if Joe Tessitore, Theodore Atlas and Brian Kenny will allot some time for the story behind the story and explain how Kerimov and his Golden Grain outfit (Sampson Lewkowicz, ace adviser) strictly follow boxing's Golden Rule.
Kerimov's got the oil which is liquid gold which gets him real gold and, thus should Sultan win and become another Russian world heavyweight champion, the billionaire (inflation since 2004, you know) will start making the rules. Perhaps all of the rules and who is going to be dis*****g this Ring Ras*****?
If Kerimov says nyet, then nyet it is, comrades. I say, chill the vodka and welcome Kerimov to the fistic fray. I like rich people. I really do, especially reformed Commies.
By Michael Marley courtesy of Fightnightnews.com
The Russians aren't coming. They already here and people are being playful about how Russian fighters are going to control the heavyweight division. You might think we were going back to
the bad, old days when Nikita Khruschev was ****ing his shoe on the table at the United Nations, to the era of the Cold War, Gary U-2 Powers, spies and spy planes and the battle between our astronauts and the Soviet Union's cosmonauts for supremacy in outer space.
Fact: Wladimir Klitchscko is the IBF champ at least until Nov. 11, when Shannon Briggs vows to snatch that crown.
Suleiman Kerimov
Fact: Sergei Liakhovich, the "White Wolf," completed dismantled hard-puncher Lamon Brewster to corral the WB) heavyweight title.
Fact: Sauerland Events in Germany is now co-promoting King Kongish (is that a word in any language?) WBA champ, the 7-foot-tall, 320 pound Nickolay Valuev. Valuev will probably fight challenger Monte "Three Card" Barrett Oct. 7 at the Garden.
Fact: The only non-Russian (OK, Liakhovich is actually from Belarus, same thing) world heavyweight champ extant is American and WBC king Hasim Rahman and, on Aug. 12, he defends in Vegas against Russian Oleg Maskaev, who already owns a KO victory over him.
Fallacy: That any of these Russian ring behemoths pose a real threat to American hedgemony or heavyweight supremacy. But there is a Russian billionaire who has plans to take over not only the heavyweight thrones, but the entire sport/business.
Ladies and gentlemen, in this corner let Comrade Michael Marley introduce you to the man who would be King, and I don't mean just the new Don King, of All Boxing and All World Titles.
His name is Suleiman Kerimov and Forbes magazine, which ranks rich people like The Ring ranks fighters, has listed him as the 72ND RICHEST PERSON IN THE WHOLE WORD WITH AN ESTIMATED NET WOTH OF--HOLD YOUR BREATH--SEVEN POINT ONE BILLION DOLLARS. That 's. 7.1 BILLION BUCKS.
Forbes also said this year that Kerimov owned or does own Vnukovo Airlines; Murmansk Airport; Avtobank; Nosta metal plant and Ingosstrakh Insurance Company, as well as a huge stake in preferred shares in Transneft, the oil-transportation monopoly. That, since 2004, Kerimov has gobbled up shares in Gazprom, world's largest natural gas producer and Sberbank (biggest retail bank in Russia) which form the core of his wealth.
Let's be clear, the man behind heavyweight contender Sultan Ibragimov, manager Boris Grinberg and Golden Grain Promotions is a straight up capitalist. He is no follower of Marx, either Groucho or Karl, and he could buy and sell you, or at least me.
He could at least rent King, Bob Arum and Golden Boy Oscar de la Hoya. No wonder trainer Carlos "Panama" Lewis, who trains Sultan and Timur Ibragimov, is sporting fresh, sparkling bling bling.
He's about 40-years-old. Forbes, in 2004, rated his net worth at about FIVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY MILLION DOLLARS (what's that in rubles?). His fortune comes from the oil business and an affiliated company named FK Kapital. He was elected to and serves in the Russian parliament.
And you thought Al "Man Behind The HBO Curtain" Haymon was mysterious. Kerimov has totally eluded the boxing limelight. Until this column, anyway.
As you know, Sultan fights "Rain Man" Ray Austin on ESPN 2 Friday night at the Seminole Hard Rock in Florida with the winner getting a mandatory contender position for Klitschko's crown.
The IBF conducted its typical purse bid to decide who would promote this fight. As we also know, fighters on the cheap ESPN 2 cards, where the promoter usually gets a check of less than $20,000 as a fee from the network, typically make $7,500 to $10,000 for fighting in the main event.
Ibragimov-Austin is a little different because Don King Promotions was the losing bidder with a $100,000 offering.
Then Neon Leon Margules and Warriors Boxing, fronting for Kerimov and Golden Grain, handed his little envelope over to IBF officials.
Eyes bugged out as the winning bid was $850,000 or $750,000 more than King bid. Some people thought Margules or his Seminole employers had gone temporarily insane, perhaps from the constant jingle-jangle of the slot machines.
But all that money comes from Kerimov's coffers. And so on Friday night, Austin's purse is 75 percent of that, about $625,000 minus of course the majority share which Uncle Don will be quick to subtract, while Iggy gets the balance or about 25 percent. (Austin had the higher ranking.)
The Russian Ras***** isn't coming to boxing. Suleiman Kerimov is here already and he means business, serious business.
I wonder if Joe Tessitore, Theodore Atlas and Brian Kenny will allot some time for the story behind the story and explain how Kerimov and his Golden Grain outfit (Sampson Lewkowicz, ace adviser) strictly follow boxing's Golden Rule.
Kerimov's got the oil which is liquid gold which gets him real gold and, thus should Sultan win and become another Russian world heavyweight champion, the billionaire (inflation since 2004, you know) will start making the rules. Perhaps all of the rules and who is going to be dis*****g this Ring Ras*****?
If Kerimov says nyet, then nyet it is, comrades. I say, chill the vodka and welcome Kerimov to the fistic fray. I like rich people. I really do, especially reformed Commies.
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