25.11.06 – By Izyaslav “Slava” Koza: When I interviewed Sultan last week I did so knowing I would be flying to Florida soon to see my brother, thereby making a face-to-face possible as well. While at the gym where Sultan trains part-time, I also caught up with Timur, his new trainer Anthony Hamm, and Sultan’s current trainer Jeff Mayweather. Here are some pics and quotes from the day:
Sultan: “Well Purse Bid is now on for November 27 so we are waiting for that. I really hope the fight (with Briggs) happens and nothing and no one tries to delay it.”
Jeff Mayweather: (about Sultan) “We are working well together so far and there are no problems.” (about Briggs) “Briggs likes to do things his way so that is why it didn’t work out. (about Floyd) “I don’t think anybody should criticize Floyd for the Baldomir fight, cause the name of the game is hitting without getting hit. Still The Oscar fight should be tough though.”
Timur: “I was all ready for Superfighter but many other guys had issues with visas so they postponed it. There is no info regarding my next fight, or whether it will be Superfighter, but in any case I’ll probably fight some time next year.”
Anthony Hamm (former trainer of Ray Mercer): “I’m grateful that I got a fighter like Timur, because he works the way most fighters should in the gym. All these Russian guys are like that. We don’t even look back at the Brock fight because of how much Timur has developed as a fighter since we’ve been working together.”
After spending a good bit of time and patience on editing these pics, which in some part are probably an insult to the great work of Wray Edwards, I have a better appreciation for the type of quality snapshots he and other photographers take.
I would like to thank Sultan, and Jeff for talking a bit with us, as well as Anthony and Timur for interrupting part of their training session to chat and take some pics. Also another special thanks to Boris Grimberg, Sultan’s and Timur’s manager.