RSSJose Sulaiman
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Maskaev Refuses to Sign Contract for Defense Against Peter
WBC Heavyweight Champion Oleg Maskaev has refused to sign the contract that would have him defend his title against mandatory challenger Samuel Peter later this year according to WBC President Jose Sulaiman.
Sulaiman sent out this press release to the media this afternoon:
Due to the fact that the WBC heavyweight champion of the world, Oleg Maskaev of Russia, has refused, through his representative, to sign the contract to fight mandatory challenger Samuel Peter of Nigeria, the President of the African Boxing Union, Houcine Houichi, has sent a recommendation for the WBC to not only continue in court on the case presented by the champion’s representative, but to also unfreeze the heavweight championship by immediately ordering an interim heavyweight world championship between Samuel Peter and the highest rated available contender in the WBC ratings, according to the WBC rules and regulations, while the court case by Maskaev’s representative is resolved.
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Wednesday, February 14, 2007
WBC President Announces World Summit on Sport of Boxing
WBC President Jose Sulaiman has called for a meeting between boxing executives from around the world to discuss how to improve boxing as well as the future of the sport.
The heads of the WBA and IBF have already stated that they will be attending the meeting which will take place in Cancun, Mexico next year.
Sulaiman wants to have a few meetings prior to the summit in order to come up with issues that can be discussed. He also stated that the intentions of the summit will include uniformity on rules, upgraded safety precautions, and welfare for boxers…
Thursday, February 01, 2007
EEC - February 1, 2007
Your morning boxing news coming at ya…
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- The Milburn family of Windsor, Ontario has donated a pair of Joe Louis’ gloves that he used in his historic battle with Max Schmeling in 1936 to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The Milburn family originally received the gloves from relatives who were close with Louis’ long time manager.
- WBC President Jose Sulaiman thinks that it’s time for Erik Morales to hang up the gloves…
“When someone loses hunger, he loses the desire to win,” Sulaiman said. “I think fighters lose the motivation to get up at 4 a.m. in the morning and go running, and the motivation to go on a diet. And I believe in that regard, Erik has not taken care of himself. He put himself through inhuman levels to lose weight, and he has picked the best to fight with the least amount of conditioning, and that is why he is in the situation that he is.”
Sulaiman also thinks that Morales needs one last fight…
“But my opinion is that he wants to retire with a victory, and he believes he can win the championship at lightweight. Erik doesn’t want to go out a loser in the way that he lost against Manny Pacquiao. He doesn’t want to go out in the minds of the people thinking of him on the canvas. So there are two motivations for him: his fourth world title and his leaving boxing with a different image for fans who’ve seen him for so many years.”
What does this all mean? Since Joel Casamayor will fight Acelino Freitas, that leaves David Diaz open for Morales’ taking. Look for a WBC Lightweight Title fight in either March or April…
- Floyd Mayweather Jr’s advisor, Leonard Ellerbe, has told The Las Vegas Review-Journal that Freddie Roach’s training methods aren’t going to have an impact on the fight between Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya:
“Oscar had two chances to win this fight, slim and none, and slim just left town when he hired Freddie,” Ellerbe said. “I have a lot of respect for Freddie as a great trainer, but to compare Freddie Roach as a trainer to Mayweather Sr. is like comparing (Manu) Ginobili to Kobe Bryant.”
- Manny Pacquiao has not yet decided whether or not he wants to run for mayor of his hometown or for a seat in the House of Representatives in the Phillipines.
Some Good Reads:
FOX Sports: The big time has called Kelly Pavlik
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Thursday, January 25, 2007
EEC - January 25, 2007
Well the return of Vitali Klitschko means three things: Samuel Peter is getting screwed, the heavyweight division gets that much better, and we will never see the titles unified until he retires again…
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Oscar De La Hoya will not use Floyd Mayweather Sr. as his trainer for his superfight against Mayweather’s son in May. A spokesman from Golden Boy Promotions said that the asking price of $2 Million to train Oscar was way too high and then De La Hoya has rejected the offer for the final time.
Even though he won’t be part of the May superfight unless his son mysteriously asks him to help out which is very unlikely, Mayweather Sr. apparently hasn’t ruled out working with De La Hoya in the future if the opportunity presents itself…
- The British Boxing Board of Control suspended Scott Harrison yesterday after he failed to show up to a scheduled hearing to discuss the cancellation of his fight with Nicky Cook last year. The association released this statement:
Despite confirmation of his attendance received from the office of his manager Barry Hughes, Scott Harrison failed to appear before a tribunal of the stewards scheduled to take place at the board’s offices. Accordingly his licence will remain suspended and he will not be permitted to take part in any boxing contest within the board’s jurisdiction until such time as the stewards permit him to do so.
- Confused about the whole Vitali Klitschko returning situation? This might help...
WBC President Jose Sulaiman says that the decision of Vitali Klitschko to return to boxing will provide a “New air of enthusiasm in the heavyweight division.” As an emeritus champion, or legend, WBC rules mean that Vitali could have an immediate crack at the current champion Oleg Maskaev. But Sulaiman says that the Board of Governors must vote on the next step, and their ruling is expected within ten days.
If they ordered an Eastern block confrontation the winner would then be ordered to fight number one challenger Samuel Peter next. Don Jose said, it depends on the Governors decision, but if the fight happened, he would be happy if took place in Russia. He also revealed that Vitali had discussed with him, the possibility of resuming his ring career as long ago as when the two met at the WBC’s Convention in Croatia last year. Vitali has retired in 2005 due to a knee injury.
But the momentum appreciably gathered pace a few days ago, when Vitali phoned Sulaiman at his home, “full of enthusiasm,” to explain that the doctors have given him a clean bill of health to return, he was back training in the gym and feels great. The WBC is awaiting the medical report. Don Jose said: “In his telephone conversation with me, Vitali was very determined. And I think that Vitali Klitschko’s return will be a progressive injection to the Heavyweight Division. There’s no doubt about that. “He was at his peak when he retired, he’s still at the right age, and so we’ll have to see.”
Some Good Reads:
ESPN: Pavlik not looking past Zertuche, but craves title shot
Boxing Scene: The Downward Spiral of Heavyweight Iron Mike Tyson
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Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Samuel Peter is Pissed Off
Trust me, if I was in Samuel Peter’s position, I’d be a little ticked off too…
If this whole thing sounds just a bit familar, it’s probably because we have been through this already. Peter was supposed to get a title shot after beating James Toney the first time around. Then Oleg Maskaev took a voluntary defense before the deadline of 2007 and defeated Peter Okhello. So Peter went ahead and beat Toney once again.
Now it’s time for a title shot right? Not exactly…
We told you a while back that Vitali Klitschko was seriously thinking about attempting a comeback. Well now rumors are swirling that his official return to boxing is only weeks away. Of course it tends to not be a rumor anymore once the president of the WBC is actually speaking to Vitali about fighting in the coming months.
Jose Sulaiman is currently awaiting a phone call from Vitali and his camp about the opportunity of getting an immediate title shot against Maskaev. Vitali was originally promised an immediate title shot if he decided to come out of retirement from injury. It looks like he actually may get it.
That would mean that Vitali would be jumping right over Peter in the rankings and would receive a title shot before him. Rightfully so, Peter is pretty pissed off about this whole thing. Sulaiman however just wishes that everyone would calm down for the time being…
“I am waiting to hear something back from Vitali,” Sulaiman said. “Vitali contacts me directly from the Ukraine or wherever he is. He called me a week ago speaking about this comeback. It’s very clear that an immediate title shot is what Vitali wants. I took notice of that just as I have taken notice of (complaints from) Dino Duva, Don King and Iyavailo Gotzev made on behalf of top contender Samuel Peter.”
Sulaiman may say that he is going to hear arguments from both sides but it’s obvious what he wants to do as of right now. Peter knows that too:
“It’s a disgrace! I fought my way into this position without taking shortcuts. I paid my sanctioning fees not once, but twice. I wasn’t even supposed to fight the second time, but people were questioning their judges, so I fought again to prove myself. They’re trying to take away everything I worked for all those years. I’m number one and they’re going to have a very big problem if they allow this. They are putting their own hands in the fire and making a big mistake.”
Why did he (Klitschko) wait till I beat Toney the second time to say he was coming back? Why not announce before? Because he’s not a true champion. He got his title when Lennox Lewis retired. And now he wants to fight Maskaev, who is also not a true champion because he’s avoiding me. Let me go against Maskaev and I’ll knock him out and then I’ll knock out both Klitschko brothers on the same night!
They tried to bribe me to get me to shut up. I don’t care about money. I want the heavyweight championship. I came to the United States six years ago and I’ve worked very hard to be in this position. They are all going to pay for this!”
If boxers can be measured by the words they say, then Peter is an animal. If that Superfighter thing ever gets started up again, Peter should lay out an open challenge to both Klitschko brothers and see what they say…
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