by Jeff Meyers – Maybe I’m missing something.
Some particularly disgraceful events have recently taken place in the sport of boxing, and I just haven’t seen the level of outrage I expected. Two situations involve the inability to stage meaningful bouts for heavyweight champions Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, while the other pertains to the proposed mega-fight in November between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito.
Let’s start with the dilemmas faced by the Brothers Klitschko.. As for Vitali, I cannot comprehend the pathetic excuses offered by potential opponents of 39 year-old “Dr. Ironfist” (40-2-0, 40 KOs). Vitali is still the WBC champion, right? Then why isn’t every single heavyweight with a pulse begging to fight the guy for the right to call himself The Baddest Dude on the Planet?
The unwillingness of WBA strap holder David “The Hayemaker” Haye (24-1-0, 22 KOs) to battle Vitali is especially egregious, given the Brit’s public relations typhoon a few years ago that included Haye taunting the Ukrainian fighter in published magazine photos that showed Haye holding Vitali’s severed head like a trophy-in-waiting.
Now where is Haye? Shouldn’t he be banging down the doors to fight Dr. Ironfist to capture another title belt and finally put up or shut up? If he beats Vitali, given the ensuing publicity and self-promotion in which Haye will engage, the London-based fighter will have HBO (which curiously refuses to air any more Klitschko brothers bouts) and other cash sources salivating at the chance to promote future Haye fights. The charismatic Haye will be the breath of fresh air the heavyweight division has been seeking for years.
So what’s the holdup?
Haye is the holdup, pure and simple. He keeps finding excuses not to fight Vitali, or Wladimir for that matter. In an interview with Fightnews.com published today (July 31), Vitali said “We gave a proposal to David Haye [but he] kept his mouth closed. He doesn’t speak any more about that. […T]o be honest, David Haye is smart enough to understand that he has a title [and that he will] have it a long time if he doesn’t meet a Klitschko brother inside the ring. It’s a big risk for him. That’s why he challenges us, but he runs away from me or from Wladimir.”
I tend to believe Vitali when he says he bent over backwards to make the fight happen: “We gave a very fair proposal: 50-50. We split the money 50-50. We’re two world champions. Everyone wants to see a unification fight. One champion against another champion. Who is the strongest in the world? Is David Haye? Be honest! I feel that all boxing fans know- David Haye is afraid. Just afraid…not to fight, but to lose his title!”
I haven’t yet seen Haye respond, but truthfully, what can he say to this? Why isn’t he willing to fight him in a London alleyway for the chance to be the last guy to unify the titles since a far more talented English fighter by the name of Lennox Lewis — the last guy to beat Vitali Klitschko?
On to the situation now facing Vitali’s younger brother, 35 year-old Wladimir “Dr. Steelhammer” Klitschko (54-3-0, 48 KOs). Dr. Steelhammer’s next opponent is former WBC heavyweight champion Samuel “Nigerian Nightmare” Peter (34-3-0, 27 KOs). But Peter only got the chance to fight Klitschko again (the two fought in 2005, with Wladimir prevailing in a unanimous decision despite getting knocked down three times by the burly-necked Nigerian) after Russian heavyweight Alexander Povetkin (19-0-0, 14 KOs) pulled out of a scheduled bout with Klitschko earlier this month.
In spite of a successful a purse bid to fight Dr. Steelhammer that would have guaranteed him slightly over $2 million, former Olympic Super-Heavyweight Gold Medalist Povetkin forfeited his mandatory title shot after neglecting to appear at a press conference in Germany on July 19, after postponing the fight twice already because of injuries. Despite rumors that the fight imploded because of German boxing promoters being unhappy with the contract terms, the truth came out courtesy of Povetkin’s trainer Teddy Atlas, who publicly declared that Povetkin just…wasn’t… ready…at this point to challenge Wlad.
What?
Isn’t this what the not-so-young-anymore Russian (thirty-plus years old) has been dreaming of his whole life? A chance to fight for the title? Isn’t that what every heavyweight contender wants?
So Povetkin probably would’ve lost. Big deal. The experience alone in battling Wladimir would’ve been worth its weight in gold, and anything can happen in the heavyweight division. Povetkin should have fired Atlas and taken the fight. Cus D’Amato and about a zillion other fighters/trainers must be spinning in their graves right now.
Let’s move to another travesty set to spill onto the world boxing stage in November: the proposed fight between Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs) and Antonio Margarito (38-6-0, 27 KOs) for the vacant WBC light middleweight title.
Without getting into the arguable larger travesty surrounding this bout — why Pacquiao is not fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. instead — the egregiousness of promoter Bob Arum even considering Margarito to fight pound-for-pound king Pacquiao is manifest, even for a promoter.
In case anyone forgot, Margarito was indefinitely suspended by the California State Athletic Commission after committing the unpardonable sin of packing plaster hand wraps in his gloves for his fight against “Sugar” Shane Mosley in January 2009.
No boxer, writer or fan with any integrity can suggest that Margarito didn’t try to cheat (or perhaps maim or kill) by stepping into the ring with loaded gloves. For that, he should be banned from fighting for the rest of his life.
Why couldn’t Arum opt to seek a bout against say, Paul Williams, Sergio Martinez, Miguel Cotto or up-and-comers Andre Berto or Timothy Bradley? Can you say money talks here? Is water wet?
Arum’s machinations to make this fight happen are a disgrace to the Sweet Science. It’s a big screw you to those who believe the last thing Margarito deserves after being caught cheating is to garner what is sure to be a mega-payday by fighting perhaps the world’s most popular boxer, Manny Pacquiao. And what if Margarito wins? Why would anyone allow him the chance to achieve the glory such a victory would produce?
Where is the outrage?
jakeameyers@gmail.com