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Boxing’s nirvana would generate Wladimir Klitschko versus Sergei Liakhovich, and then have Nikolai Valuev facing Oleg Maskaev (or any semifinal coupling you like), with the winners facing each other to crown an undisputed heavyweight king.
The problem? This is boxing.
While we hear oh so often that fighter A would face anyone anywhere, or fighter B would do anything to unify the titles, it seems in our 2006 heavyweight division of former Soviet champs, there is an excuse for all four to dance with beltless partners.
On Monday, WBO champ Liakhovich consummated a deal to face Shannon Briggs, now promoted by Don King, at Chase Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks on November 4.
IBF champ Wladimir Klitschko one day later made official his November 11 Madison Square Garden fight with the “Boxing Banker,” Calvin Brock.
It was announced earlier this month on a whirlwind U.S. tour that Nikolai Valuev will defend his WBA title against Monte Barrett in Chicago on October 7.
And finally, fresh off his impressive win over Hasim Rahman, Oleg Maskaev is talking about fighting an interim bout in Russia, before he possibly faces his mandatory, Sam Peter.
While these might make for interesting fights, it’s not the direction the public opinion hopes the heavyweight division goes.
“My guys would fight anyone, anytime,“ said brash manager Ivaylo Gotzev of his heavyweight fighters, Liakhovich and Sam Peter.
“Klitschko doesn’t want to fight. Klitschko ran away from Shannon Briggs, so Sergei stepped up and will fight Briggs. He’s a hard puncher, like Sam. He has fast hands and is dangerous,” said Gotzev.
“Instead, Klitschko is fighting Calvin Brock, a man that Sergei knocked out in the gym in Las Vegas four years ago, with 18 ounce gloves and headgear,” proclaimed Gotzev.
Granted, Brock is 29-0 with 22 KO’s, but off that Timur Ibragimov bore-fest of a fight in Las Vegas, how did he get this fight on HBO? Didn’t he fail in his audition on HBO’s Boxing After Dark?
Obviously not.
“It wasn’t just you guys that were bored that night in Las Vegas. I was bored, and I was in the boxing match,” said Brock.
He explained that the Las Vegas summer heat (the bout was at Caesar’s outdoor arena) was one of the contributing factors towards his lame performance, while the other was his opponent.
“Entertainment-wise, that was a bad event, but that is Timur’s style,” said a candid Brock.
The reality of the situation is that Brock is an undefeated heavyweight, who is known as one of the hottest contenders today. A win would mean the first undefeated heavyweight champ in a long time.
As for Klitschko, he was long rumored to be facing Shannon Briggs. For weeks Shannon was telling the media it was done, that he was just waiting for Shelly Finkel to fax him the contracts.
The fax never came.
At Monday’s presser Briggs ripped into Klitschko’s adviser.
"Shelly Finkel is a #$%^. He used me and my name for what he is doing down at the Garden. He knew I was a New York fighter. He had me waiting at home for the contract, said it was done, but it never came. He shagged me, he shagged me. He did me dirty. He was bulls**tting me. Guys like Shelly Finkel are the ones putting boxing on the back burner behind the NFL, NBA and other sports."
But on Tuesday at MSG, Klitschko business manager, Bernd Boente, plainly explained, “We were holding out to see if Oleg Maskaev could make this November 11 date. We told Briggs that. He knew. We knew there was only a small chance because of Oleg’s recent fight with Toney, but Briggs had to wait. We wanted a unification fight if we could get one. If he would have just waited, he would have had this fight.
Manager Shelly Finkel seconds that notion by saying, “If he would have waited one more day, he would have had the fight. He’s saying I’m not honest? He went with Don King, and you know how his former promoter (Cedric Kushner) found out about this? From a website! This is all Briggs’ fault. He acted crazy.
So why didn’t Team Klitschko seek out Valuev or Liakhovich for a unification bout?
Boente answers, “We won’t deal with Don King right now. It’s so hard to deal with him. He always wants options included in any deal he makes. We aren’t ready to do that.”
That being said, it might be a while before Klitschko adds another belt to his waist, as Maskaev is rumored to have plans for a fight to take place in Russia versus Peter Okhello, an apparent attempt to make some coin before the mandatory battle with Sam Peter happens.
“Maskaev’s promoter, Dennis Rappaport, is trying to milk him before he has to face Peter. They are talking about a lot of money for Maskaev to fight in Russia. I’ll believe it when I see it! In the meantime we will wait for Maskaev, we will challenge the WBC to get the Mandatory challenger (spot),” said Gotzev.
Amazingly, while so many claim they had James Toney winning that last bout versus Peter, by no means was it highway robbery.
After Peter lost to Klitschko in Atlantic City, NJ one year ago, a novice fan sitting ringside asked me, how did Peter lose this fight if he knocked Klitschko down three times and landed the harder punches?
I began to answer him, explaining how Wladimir won rounds, and then it dawned on me…
The fans want to see the big punches from the big boys.
When have we seen Toney land any bombs? He hasn’t. His best asset is avoiding the big bombs, which he was dangerously close to not doing as he ate overhand rights as he was holding the ropes for dear life against Peter in a mid-fight round.
Peter is the guy people want to see, because he has those bombs. If you want to see a guy rolling his shoulders and slipping, there are plenty of other weight classes to peruse, flooded with those skills.
By no means is Peter a complete fighter, but I’d like to see him challenge the current beltholders before anyone else in the division gets a crack.
As far as Valuev goes, Monte Barrett is no tomato can, but he is not a top contender. However, we’ll give Valuev a pass at this time because this is Valuev’s first time fighting in North America. But after this one the honeymoon is over, and King should try and unify.
Ha ha ha ye right...
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The problem? This is boxing.
While we hear oh so often that fighter A would face anyone anywhere, or fighter B would do anything to unify the titles, it seems in our 2006 heavyweight division of former Soviet champs, there is an excuse for all four to dance with beltless partners.
On Monday, WBO champ Liakhovich consummated a deal to face Shannon Briggs, now promoted by Don King, at Chase Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks on November 4.
IBF champ Wladimir Klitschko one day later made official his November 11 Madison Square Garden fight with the “Boxing Banker,” Calvin Brock.
It was announced earlier this month on a whirlwind U.S. tour that Nikolai Valuev will defend his WBA title against Monte Barrett in Chicago on October 7.
And finally, fresh off his impressive win over Hasim Rahman, Oleg Maskaev is talking about fighting an interim bout in Russia, before he possibly faces his mandatory, Sam Peter.
While these might make for interesting fights, it’s not the direction the public opinion hopes the heavyweight division goes.
“My guys would fight anyone, anytime,“ said brash manager Ivaylo Gotzev of his heavyweight fighters, Liakhovich and Sam Peter.
“Klitschko doesn’t want to fight. Klitschko ran away from Shannon Briggs, so Sergei stepped up and will fight Briggs. He’s a hard puncher, like Sam. He has fast hands and is dangerous,” said Gotzev.
“Instead, Klitschko is fighting Calvin Brock, a man that Sergei knocked out in the gym in Las Vegas four years ago, with 18 ounce gloves and headgear,” proclaimed Gotzev.
Granted, Brock is 29-0 with 22 KO’s, but off that Timur Ibragimov bore-fest of a fight in Las Vegas, how did he get this fight on HBO? Didn’t he fail in his audition on HBO’s Boxing After Dark?
Obviously not.
“It wasn’t just you guys that were bored that night in Las Vegas. I was bored, and I was in the boxing match,” said Brock.
He explained that the Las Vegas summer heat (the bout was at Caesar’s outdoor arena) was one of the contributing factors towards his lame performance, while the other was his opponent.
“Entertainment-wise, that was a bad event, but that is Timur’s style,” said a candid Brock.
The reality of the situation is that Brock is an undefeated heavyweight, who is known as one of the hottest contenders today. A win would mean the first undefeated heavyweight champ in a long time.
As for Klitschko, he was long rumored to be facing Shannon Briggs. For weeks Shannon was telling the media it was done, that he was just waiting for Shelly Finkel to fax him the contracts.
The fax never came.
At Monday’s presser Briggs ripped into Klitschko’s adviser.
"Shelly Finkel is a #$%^. He used me and my name for what he is doing down at the Garden. He knew I was a New York fighter. He had me waiting at home for the contract, said it was done, but it never came. He shagged me, he shagged me. He did me dirty. He was bulls**tting me. Guys like Shelly Finkel are the ones putting boxing on the back burner behind the NFL, NBA and other sports."
But on Tuesday at MSG, Klitschko business manager, Bernd Boente, plainly explained, “We were holding out to see if Oleg Maskaev could make this November 11 date. We told Briggs that. He knew. We knew there was only a small chance because of Oleg’s recent fight with Toney, but Briggs had to wait. We wanted a unification fight if we could get one. If he would have just waited, he would have had this fight.
Manager Shelly Finkel seconds that notion by saying, “If he would have waited one more day, he would have had the fight. He’s saying I’m not honest? He went with Don King, and you know how his former promoter (Cedric Kushner) found out about this? From a website! This is all Briggs’ fault. He acted crazy.
So why didn’t Team Klitschko seek out Valuev or Liakhovich for a unification bout?
Boente answers, “We won’t deal with Don King right now. It’s so hard to deal with him. He always wants options included in any deal he makes. We aren’t ready to do that.”
That being said, it might be a while before Klitschko adds another belt to his waist, as Maskaev is rumored to have plans for a fight to take place in Russia versus Peter Okhello, an apparent attempt to make some coin before the mandatory battle with Sam Peter happens.
“Maskaev’s promoter, Dennis Rappaport, is trying to milk him before he has to face Peter. They are talking about a lot of money for Maskaev to fight in Russia. I’ll believe it when I see it! In the meantime we will wait for Maskaev, we will challenge the WBC to get the Mandatory challenger (spot),” said Gotzev.
Amazingly, while so many claim they had James Toney winning that last bout versus Peter, by no means was it highway robbery.
After Peter lost to Klitschko in Atlantic City, NJ one year ago, a novice fan sitting ringside asked me, how did Peter lose this fight if he knocked Klitschko down three times and landed the harder punches?
I began to answer him, explaining how Wladimir won rounds, and then it dawned on me…
The fans want to see the big punches from the big boys.
When have we seen Toney land any bombs? He hasn’t. His best asset is avoiding the big bombs, which he was dangerously close to not doing as he ate overhand rights as he was holding the ropes for dear life against Peter in a mid-fight round.
Peter is the guy people want to see, because he has those bombs. If you want to see a guy rolling his shoulders and slipping, there are plenty of other weight classes to peruse, flooded with those skills.
By no means is Peter a complete fighter, but I’d like to see him challenge the current beltholders before anyone else in the division gets a crack.
As far as Valuev goes, Monte Barrett is no tomato can, but he is not a top contender. However, we’ll give Valuev a pass at this time because this is Valuev’s first time fighting in North America. But after this one the honeymoon is over, and King should try and unify.
Ha ha ha ye right...
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Yeah, right! All Jones did was run and stick out his tongue. What can be easier than that? If Tarver was a real champion he would have been calling for unification. But then you can say the same thing about almost any of the phony paper champions we have today. Everybody wants to win a belt but nobody wants to earn it.
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