WORLD BOXING COUNCIL NEWS
03.04 - From WBC President Jose Sulaiman: "The WBC Board of Governors has voted on the current situation of heavyweight world champion Lennox Lewis of England, who made his last mandatory defense on June 8, 2002.
"The WBC would accept a title defense by Lewis against Mike Tyson of the USA, due to the fact that Lewis is in a voluntary defense stage and also because of his contractual obligation to fight again with Mike Tyson, under the condition that the winner of such voluntary defense bout must defend the title on a mandatory basis against the No. 1 ranked official challenger Vitali Klitschko of Ukraine, who has already been appointed.
"Otherwise, in compliance of the WBC Rules and Regulations, Lennox Lewis should make his next mandatory defense against Vitali Klitschko.
"The WBC will wait until April 15 for the champion's decision. In case no decision is made, the 30-day period for free negotiations for the mandatory defense of Lewis vs Klitschko will begin, in compliance of the WBC Rules.
"Lennox Lewis is a pride of the World Boxing Council, as he has never refused to fight anyone and has always defeated all his opponents, showing why he is considered one of the greatest world heavyweight champions of all time.
"We are sure that he will act as a true champion, as usual, fulfilling his obligations according to the requirements of the organization whose beautiful green belt Lewis has conquered with pride.
"Promoter Millennium Events, Inc., headed by Mr. Vlad Warton, officially advised the WBC that his company will not be able to promote the mandatory fight between super lightweight world champion Konstantin Tszyu of Australia against official challenger Gianluca Branco of Italy. This promoter had won the purse offer held on March 3 in Mexico City with a bid of $1,550,000 USD.
"Consequently, the rights to promote this fight are transferred to promoter OPI 2000, owned by Mr. Salvatore Cherchi of Italy, who came second with an offer of $1,331,000 USD. Mr. Cherchi informed that he will promote this bout either in Monte Carlo, Moscow or Sicily. Therefore, the WBC has already sent the contracts signed by Mr. Cherchi to both world champion Konstantin Tszyu and his official challenger Gianluca Branco.
"Konstantin Tszyu won the WBC super lightweight world title by defeating Cuban boxer Diobelys Hurtado by KO, on November 28, 1998, and he is just few months away of his fifth anniversary as WBC world champion. Gianluca Branco relinquished his European championship to be able to contend for the WBC world championship, but until now, had not received the opportunity. Konstantin Tszyu has made eight defenses of his world title, but 21 months have elapsed since his last defense and the WBC Rules and Regulations stipulate that it must be done every year.
"Both the WBC Constitution and the WBC Rules establish that if a world champion refuses to sign the contracts that contain all the applicable regulations in regards to purse offers, he would forfeit his world title; in the case of the challenger, he will forfeit his rights to contend for the title. The same rules indicate that 75% of the total purse will be for the champion, while 25% will be for the challenger, and both have six days, as of today, to submit the duly signed contracts.
"The WBC was going to hold meeting of the Board of Governors in Kiev, Ukraine, sponsored by the Martial Arts and Boxing Federation of Ukraine, but due to the present international situation, the meeting has been postponed.
"Bantamweight world champion Veeraphol Nakhonluang was planning to fight Julio Gamboa, but Gamboa recently lost a fight and Veeraphol is looking for a new challenger."
