Maskaev and Klitschko were called the most likely participants in the unification battle at the end of the summer, right after Oleg won the championship belt in a dramatic duel with the American Hasim Rakhman. Klitschko’s managers then offered Maskaev’s team a duel in mid-November, but they received a logical refusal: in the fight with Rakhman Maskaev received several injuries, and the 37-year-old boxers needed rest leave.
However, for the following months, the parties did not lose contact and eventually converged on April 21, 2007 and, according to preliminary information, in Moscow. This option was beneficial to both. Maskaev in the last fight with Ohello, unfortunately, confirmed the fears that age and numerous injuries are increasingly affecting his physical condition. So, he may not have another chance to lead the main one, both in terms of fee and status. Klitschko, who did not hide his ambitious intention to collect the titles for all four versions, agreed with Maskaev much easier than with Valuev or Briggs, who were supported by Don King, who had long been outlawed by the Ukrainian team.
The contract for this interesting fight (the last unifying fight in the heavyweight title took place in 1999 between Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield) could be signed in the outgoing year. If it weren’t for an important nuance: according to the WBC charter, Maskaev should hold a duel with a mandatory challenger within six months after winning the title. And such will be determined on January 6 in the second battle between Samuel Peter and James Toney. And whoever won it, he will become a serious obstacle to Maskaev’s path to a meeting with Klitschko.
Understanding the danger of the situation, Russian promoter Dennis Rappoport has already sent an official letter to WBC President Jose Suleiman asking him to defer mandatory protection for his client. An answer is expected in the first days of the new year.
But it would be naive to believe that the fate of the Maskaev-Klitschko fight entirely depends on the leaders of the WBC. This is where Don King comes to the forefront, in whose control influence on the leaders of most boxing federations only optimists and romantics doubt.
“It all depends on who runs the WBC: Don King or Jose Suleiman,” says Maskaev’s manager Fred Cash. “Sometimes it’s just necessary to consider lobbying interests. However, until now our consultations with Suleiman have been very positive and they continue. However, we we understand that and who is the main obstacle to the unification battle. "
The role of King, who loves attention to his own person, in this story is not only shadowy. The American promoter owns part of the rights to conduct the battles of Peter and Tony. Therefore, to imagine that Don will make it so easy to take away from one of his boxers a chance to become a world champion and deprive himself of a dozen or two million dollars is like believing in the friendliness of a hungry shark.
Finally, King is unlikely to be involved in the Maskaev-Klitschko fight, which will undoubtedly cause great interest on both sides of the Atlantic, which means that he will be left without a satisfying piece of a delicious pie and lose a considerable part of his authority. He has already stated in the American press that if the WBC nevertheless gives a deferment to Maskaev, he will seek through the court either the Russian citizen to be required to defend himself, or his disqualification and deprivation of all titles. And it is likely that such a court will win King - when the rules are beneficial to Don, they turn into canons.
Andrey IVANTSOV