Fight for interest

Oleg Maskaev reached an agreement with Samuel Peter

The long-suffering fight for the WBC world heavyweight title between belt holder Russian Oleg Maskaev and Nigerian Samuel Peter will still take place. After long negotiations, the parties signed a contract to host it, and the fight, which was constantly under threat of failure, should take place on October 6 at the famous Madison Square Garden arena in New York.

The feasibility of this battle was questioned from the very beginning, and negotiations were lengthy and constantly reached a dead end. After the champion Maskaev was allowed to earn money in Moscow in a fight against Peter Ohello, in which the Russian boxer won on points, the contenders immediately rushed to him demanding a mandatory defense. In the end, there were only two left who could qualify for a fight with Maskaev in the first place - honorary WBC champion Vitali Klitschko and Samuel Peter. The title of honorary champion gave the Ukrainian the right, if he decided to return to boxing, to immediately claim a title fight. The Nigerian earned this right by defeating James Toney in the contenders' dispute. St. Petersburg’s position looked stronger, and Klitschko’s team had to offer the Nigerian about $3 million for the priority right to meet with Maskaev. Peter seemed to agree, but at the last moment, when the Ukrainian side was unable to provide financial guarantees, everything fell through.

A tender was appointed for the right to organize this fight, which was won, not without scandal, by the Duva Boxing company of promoter Dino Duva, representing the interests of Samuel Peter. She offered the largest prize fund - $3.201 million, but was unable to secure it. The rights to the fight were awarded to runner-up Don King Productions. Since Don King is also related to Samuel Peter and, like Dino Duva, represents his interests, Maskaev’s promoter Dennis Rappoport demanded that Don King Productions’ application be canceled, but did not find understanding among the WBC management.

In turn, Don King Productions offered a very strange contract to Oleg Maskaev. According to its draconian terms, the prize fund, which amounts to 3 million 201 thousand dollars, was planned to be divided as follows: 55% - to the current champion, 45% - to the challenger, which did not suit the team of the Russian boxer. Dennis Rappoport said that he will insist on the traditional division of the fee: 70% to the title holder, and 30% to the challenger - and will go to court.

The head of the African Boxing Union, Husin Houchi, immediately got involved. In an ultimatum, he proposed to WBC President Jose Suleiman to deprive Maskaev of the championship title and hold a fight for the title of interim champion between Samuel Peter and the boxer who occupies the highest place in the organization’s ranking. In response, Rappoport stated: “I will not allow them to treat Maskaev in this way. We are not going to endure all this meekly and obediently. I will not allow the WBC to use Maskaev and treat him without due respect” - and threatened to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

With such a development of events, it would be completely unknown when the championship fight would take place. But in recent days, information has begun to come from Don King's headquarters that the negotiations are progressing well. In turn, Oleg Maskaev began training in his training camp in Pennsylvania. And yesterday the contract was signed. Its financial terms have not been disclosed, but, according to unofficial information, both sides had to make concessions. And the winner of this fight, according to preliminary agreements, will have to meet Vitali Klitschko.

Andrey VDOVIN