22.08.06 – When Kassim Ouma heard last Friday (Aug. 18) ESPN 2 boxing analyst Teddy Atlas mention a potential Ouma-Jermain Taylor fight for the world middleweight title in December, “it was one of the happiest days of my life,” he said. “I have nothing but the utmost respect for Jermain Taylor as a person and a champion and it certainly would be an honor for me to fight him, even if it has to be in his town (Little Rock, AR),” said Ouma. “Big fights like that get me pumped up.”..
Ouma, like everyone else in the business, had heard Taylor’s promoter Lou DiBella say that he (DiBella) wanted to get Taylor an easy fight after going back-to-back-to-back with Bernard Hopkins (twice) and Winky Wright.
DiBella even had mention Bozo The Clown as a possible foe for Taylor.
Ouma says he would wear a Bozo The Clown outfit into the ring.
“And if Jermain really doesn’t want to fight me, what about Winky or (Antonio) Margarito. Everone is saying how ‘bad’ Margarito is. Well, let’s find out how bad he really is. Let me fight him.”
Says J Russell Peltz, who co-promotes Ouma with Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Priductions: “I have no problem with Jermain Taylor fighting Bozo The Clown. My problem would be with HBO televising it. HBO and Showtime fights should be for the crème de la crème, not for tune-ups. In years gone by, when fighters would ask for tune-ups, we would tell them to go to the auto body shop.
“Throughout the first 60 or 70 years of the 20th century, when champions wanted easy paydays, they boxed non-title fights scheduled for 10 rounds. Some of those so-called easy fights were as tough as championship fights.
“I remember when Willie Pastrano, after he stole Harold Johnson’s light-heavyweight title in 1963, got beat up in a non-title fight afterward by Gregorio Peralta, of Argentina. Then they made the rematch for the title and Pastrano won on cuts.
“Same thing happened a few years earlier to Archie Moore, who went to Italy to pick up some easy money in a 10-rounder with Guilio Rinaldi, and lost. The next year Moore defended his light-heavyweight title against Rinaldi in Madison Square Garden and won.
“My point is that Taylor should do whatever he wants, but HBO should only televise the best fighters in the best fights. That way, we won’t have to watch mismatches like Roy Jones vs. Ricky Frazier or Bernard Hopkins vs. Morrade Hakkar.”