TWO PRIMA DONNAS WITH TIRED ACTS

On January 24, Vitali Klitschko announced his return to the ring to attempt to recapture the WBC heavyweight title and immediately set off a maelstrom of charges and counter charges between his camp and that of Samuel Peter and Oleg Maskaev. The daily twists and turns drove the media and fans crazy as almost every day at least one of the players or their respective managers and/or promoters had a tasty quote to be distributed.

Maskaev, the current WBC belt holder, and his promoter Dennis Rappaport preferred to fight Klitschko in Moscow, probably because Klitschko is the biggest draw and since he would in all probability lose to either man, he wanted to maximize his return before fading off into the sunset at age 38.

As for Peter, he had already fought James Toney twice and paid sanctioning fees both times for the privilege of being the mandatory challenger for Maskaev. His promoters, Dino Duva and Don King were prepared to go to court if the negotiations and renegotiations did not resolve the matter.

Klitschko’s adviser, Shelly Finkel, put together a sweet package for Peter to step aside. Klitschko’s bargaining chip was that he had been named “Champion Emeritus” by WBC president Jose Sulaiman, and was told that he would get first crack at the title upon his return. Klitschko, who last fought in 2004, apparently thought that this distinction came with a lifetime guarantee.

Now last week it was revealed that Klitschko is out and Maskaev will fight Peter. The explanation depends on who you talk to about it. Klitschko, difficult to pin down in an interview in which someone asks questions, issued a press release stating that an agreement was not able to be reached because the deal was so complex and they ran up against TV (HBO) deadlines. Finkel declined to comment.

Rappaport issued a statement saying that after initially having problems with obtaining financing when it appeared that Peter would accept the step aside money, he finally secured the money and the fight would take place and be televised on June 2 on HBO. Then, Rappaport claimed, he received a call from the Klitschko camp stating that their man couldn’t be ready by that date and he would prefer to fight the winner of Maskaev-Peter.

Klitschko replied on Klitschko.com, blaming the situation on “unreasonable ambitions” of both Peter and Maskaev. Further, he wrote that “one of the main partners in the negotiation process – HBO” had informed them that with eight weeks remaining before the fight, it would be impossible for them to broadcast the fight on June 2.

“Therefore HBO made the final decision,” Vitali wrote.

Later in his statement, he writes that he hopes that, “Oleg’s fight with Samuel will take place in the near future, as this will allow me to face the winner in the fall of this year.”

I’m confused. If Peter and Maskaev aren’t locked into June 2, why must Vitali be? If he did in fact need more time, wouldn’t he get it with the later date?

The WBC has set an April 20 deadline for free negotiations. In the event that no deal is reached, a purse offer will be held on that date. The WBC also ordered that Vitali Klitschko be the next mandatory challenger. I wonder if Vitali will even be in the picture by then.

So how did this really come to a conclusion?

Consider this: On March 21, Don King had an audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in Rome, Italy. The meeting was arranged by Luca Messi (no, not Luca Brazzi), a junior middleweight who had fought on a King card whose brother was a priest. King gave several ceremonial title belts from various boxing organizations to the Pope during his visit. So you could make a case that this mess was resolved in King’s favor because the Pope has more juice than Jose Sulaiman.

ROY’S REASONING NO REMEDY FOR LACK OF RELEVANCE

Another leopard who apparently has not changed his spots is Roy Jones Jr. RJJ has spent more time negotiating fights that never come to pass than any other fighter who immediately comes to mind. Just this past December his PPV fight with Manny Siaca was called off due to “contractual issues.”

The latest Jones deal to go belly up was with Showtime. Lou DiBella represented RJ as his promoter and reached a deal with super middleweight Anthony Hanshaw’s promoter, Gary Shaw, and Showtime for the two to meet in a light heavyweight fight on June 9. Jones was to be paid $500,000, Hanshaw, $150,000. Jones gave DiBella his verbal go ahead on the terms.

Then as the contracts were being drawn up, Jones said that he wanted $1.5 million, with half of it up front. More accurately, Roy cut off communications with DiBella, failing to return telephone messages. Instead, he had his personal assistant, Linda Padget, send a text message to DiBella stating his new demands.

Roy was then featured on Boxing Talk, a popular website, with a story headlined: “Why Would I Want To Fight a Gary Shaw Fighter on a Gary Shaw Show on Showtime?” This was actually an inaccuracy. It was a DiBella-Shaw co-promotion, and DiBella was to be his promoter. In the BT article, Roy complained that this fight was supposed to be a tune-up for a fight with Jermain Taylor in September, and stated that in Cory Spinks, Taylor had an easier tune-up than he was getting in Hanshaw. DiBella was out, and Murad Muhammad, who still owes Evander Holyfield a $1 million from a PPV fight last year, was in.

Now Jones and Muhammad are going to promote their own card on PPV on June 9. Jones said that Hanshaw could still be his opponent, for the same money. Jones concluded the interview by extolling the virtues of Don King as a person, although King had nothing to do with the promotion.

Jones also went on ESPN 2 Friday Night Fights by phone to further explain his position, and charged that Showtime’s boxing chief, Ken Hershman tried to force Shaw on him.

Shaw has agreed to allow Hanshaw to fight Jones on the PPV card, adding that he wanted Hanshaw’s purse to be wired into a trust account. He issued a press release that in part congratulated Joe Calzaghe on his historic 20th defense over Peter Manfredo Jr. last Saturday, including the message, “Joe, after Anthony Hanshaw knocks out Roy Jones on the June 9 show Roy is promoting, Anthony will be ready to challenge you in your American debut!”

As for Showtime forcing a promoter on Jones, that’s not how it works. Shaw represents Hanshaw. DiBella was representing Jones. They reached a verbal agreement on the purse with the fighters and took the matchup to Showtime. Ken Hershman could then either accept the deal or turn it down. For what it is worth, consider that just a few weeks ago both HBO and Showtime rejected a proposed Jones- Omar Sheika bout.

Where the parties made their big mistake was getting excited about a Roy Jones verbal commitment.

Anthony Hanshaw is not a tune-up, this is true, but still Cory Spinks is a junior middleweight titlist and is certainly more highly regarded than Hanshaw at this point. It’s also a given that the name Hanshaw is not going to help Roy get the PPV buys that he is going to need to make the money that he feels he deserves, either. Plus, even moving up a division, Hanshaw might just whip RJ.

In the final analysis, is this a case of Roy Jones Jr. trying desperately to regain relevance? Could he actually be so delusional as to think that we still hold him in high regard as a fighter? He was great, once. Once is not enough, at least for a man who seems determined to alienate everyone in the sport.