..the same night? From Fightnews ...President Sulaiman made an impassioned speech justifying his position to have Klitschko be allowed an optional defense in March, then defend against the Solis-Austin winner by June. Sulaiman felt the financial gain from two heavyweight title fights within ninety days would help ease the long standing WBC financial burden stemming from the $30,000,000 judgment against the WBC won by Graciano Rocchigiani. After that judgment in April 2003, the WBC declared bankruptcy, yet has maintained a six-figure monthly payment to Rocchigiani up until 2009, after which the WBC has been unable to make such payments. After an rejected attempt to settle in Germany with representatives of Rocchigiani, Sulaiman has felt the WBC can only go on with either making the payments out of his own pocket, or solicit help from promoters in clearing the aforementioned debt. After more words amongst involved promoters, Don King, Tom Loeffler and Ahmet Öner, President Sulaiman took the microphone and emotionally abdicated his 35-year presidency to the astonishment of the gathered attendees. He rose from his seat on the dais, declared that he was resigning immediately as president and that the meeting would resume in 90 minutes, at which time the head microphone would be helmed by someone else. Don King then bellowed that he too was finished with boxing, at which time the room emptied. Loeffler, Öner and King accompanied Sulaiman to his suite, in an effort to iron things out and perhaps to encourage the long reigning president to have a change of heart. More to come… :laugh11::laugh11: Bunch of drama queens. Anyway Adamek vs. Vitali, MSG in April sounds good. All sanctioning fees for Rocky. :bears:
You have to love how the Klitschkos somehow get dragged into a piece of shit joke article, so as to imply that the backdrop of scumbaggery has something to do with them and the HW division also. :shit:
Drama queens. After ripping off fighters for years, they cry foul. This judgment for Rocky is what? 10 years old? A few more diamond belts by the WBC should cover it lmao.
Doesn't this just sort of fit the bill for how corrupt or criminal enterprises are eventually crushed? It almost never seems to happen in the way that you would think it should happen, a la Al Capone eventually being put away for income tax evasion. So here we have the WBC who through their regular shenanigans finally does the wrong thing to the wrong guy at the wrong time. Not all that different from what they have done before or since, and not really done to the most high profile fighter, either. They fuck him over and strip his title. But yet somehow from that one action comes a lawsuit that finally wins, and wins a massive award. You could probably find hundreds of corrupt, unfair, and possibly illegal things the WBC and every other sanctioning body has done over the last three decades - but it was this one guy that brought about the beginning of the end. Karma truly is a bitch. This really does make me wonder, though, why other fighters have not filed similar lawsuits. Surely there are other fighters whose stories of corrupt and unfair treatment by one or all of the alphabet organizations would sway a jury to award damages! It would truly be remarkable if a flurry of these types of lawsuits from fighters past and present were filed in an effort to bankrupt every last one of the "sanctioning bodies".
I had the same thought, & I agree with you. The Klitschkos, though not exciting or truly great fighters in my view, in many respects bring pride & class to a sport so traditionally bereft of such qualities, & it is completely unfair, IMO, to implicate them in any fashion here. As to the original question, absolutely. King & Sulaiman? Absolute trash, the pair of them.
Absolutely, same thing happened with Liverpool Football Club. The owners heaped so much debt on the club that they eventually lost it for a fraction of what it cost them, to NESV. Capitalism, when used properly, is a wondrous thing. Those who lack capital get fucked on eventually.
Sulaiman reminds me of Fat Saso from Carlitos Way. As for King, a Gangster, but probably a thief more than anything else. A little research reveals he is no worse than a lot of the Cleveland Mob, or any other Mob, in fact he is probably a bit better....but only boxing would tolerate him for this long.
Statute of Limitations is going to make everyone else safe. Although I wasn't and am generally not a fan of the government getting involved in boxing, the one thing that they did with the Ali act and the other stuff was make it so that boxers cannot be arbitrarily stripped. Some of the biggest violators of this were not the Big 4, but their regional branches. One guy would win the NABF or NABA W title one day and it would be up for grabs next month. That was complete bullshit and it got fixed. The only problem with your idea is that it got fixed long enough ago that the guys who had legit claims are almost surely past the time limits to act on them now.
I give him credit for being the WBC and I think the WBC is a net positive for boxers and boxing. The WBC is far from perfect, but I think it is probably the most prestigious belt of the Big 4, even if I don't think it should be. I think that Suliaman has made changes in the past that I disagree with, but his intentions have been good and overall the results have been good in aggregate. I know I'm not giving anything concrete, but maybe it's just that when I think of sanctioning body screwups, the ones that come to mind first are the IBF stripping machine and the WBA just being a mess.
Yep. When his name is brought up that first thing that comes to mind is 'good intentions' :laughing::laughing::laughing:
:Giggle: Okay...I'll play even if this is an uphill battle 15 to 12 rds...fighter safety open scoring...trying to avoid perception of impropriety gatorade between rds...fighter safety day before weigh ins...fighter safety see here http://wbcboxing.com/indexEng.php ...many of the things we take for granted apparently are there because of the WBC...thumbless gloves, 4 rope rings...etc
Three of those four, Gatorade being the odd man out, have contributed to the regression of boxing. :nono: And it's common knowledge that 12 from 15 was a TV slot thing, no?
I'm not a fan of any of those things, particularly the things that encourage fighters to cut weight, but I do think they were done with good intentions. I think the 15 to 12 rds probably had multiple reasons.
Apparently the WBC has ordered Lemieux/Rubio as a final eliminator for the winner of Williams/Martinez II, which should give interim champion Sebastian Zbik enough grounds for a lawsuit. Not that Zbik has any intentions to ever fight a live body, but it just shows the WBC has learned nothing.
I love the WBC, Diamond belts, Silver, Gold, Platinum. I love them and all 300 of thier champions. Great people.