The decision of the Association (WBC) is seen as a good move, because no association at that level wants to toy with inactivity. In my last article, I asked a question, when will the new date be? Is it a pullout or a boycott? In an attempt to answer the question I tried to analyze what happened between Hasim Rahman and Vitali Klitschko. That incident remains fresh on my mind. First the fight was fixed for April 30th 2005.Klitschko injured his thigh while training for the fight, so it was rescheduled for June 18. As the date approached, Klitschko’s camp said that the thigh had not fully healed; The WBC made July 23 the new fight date, soon after the second postponement, Vitali’s doctor reportedly discovered back injuries that they said demanded minor-yet immediate corrective surgery. The WBC pushed Rahman’s title shot again, this time to November 12.
After this third rescheduling, Rahman, tired of the delay’s needlessly risked his guaranteed title shot by fighting for a WBC “interim” Heavyweight Championship. Rahman defeated the number 2 contender at that time: Monte Barret on August 13, 2005 via a unanimous decision in what was seen as an uninspiring effort (Both men were friends though).
At this point Kiltschko was told that, he will be stripped of his title (now disputed) if he refuses to fight Rahman as his first opponent after recovery. On November 7th, it was announced that Klitschko had suffered severe right knee injury during training; to this end the WBC announced that it would strip him of the title, if he was unable to box within 60-90 days of the a soon to be announced base date. However, on November 9th, Vitali retired. The following day 10th November, 2005, the World Boxing Council awarded its heavyweight championship to Rahman (Wikipedia.org)
The same Vitali came out of retirement and wanted to fight Oleg Maskaev for the same title, which helped to cause delay on the Maskaev-Peters fight. If we take that action into account one might be tempted to say it was a plot to avoid Rahman. But we can’t say that for Maskaev, especially at the moment. Anyway Don King is working very hard to get a replacement for Samuel Peters; the first on the list was Andrew Golota but the unimpressive record of the polish man made WBC reject him and in his place is packaging James McCline and talks are going on smoothly, I hope they beat the time. McCline was billed to actually fight Vitali Klitschko on September 22,2007 but was put off because Klitschko also sustained a back injury. He was to feature as one of the under card on October 6th, against Davarr1 Williams.
The issue now is that Samuel Peters is not ready to take a pay cut for the fight but Show Time wants to significantly slash the license fee for the replacement and King is desperately negotiating with the boxers to ensure a purse is agreed upon, but peter appear resolute at the moment.
Meanwhile Maskaev will be out for three months, we wish him a quick and happy recovery. As it stands now, many boxing followers believe that if the fight had taken place Peters would have come, tops. So is it a method of avoiding the real champ or are doctors working tirelessly to get him fit for the best fight in the heavyweight. According to Gotzev Peters Manger “Peters is happy. He felt like a Champion all along, especially after he beat James Toney two times in a row. We always considered James Toney the toughest fight of his career. We considered it a harder fight than we thought the Maskaev fight would have been. But Maskaev tied to get out of the fight so many times. Then the injury, if you believe it, we’re in this to make fight happen not to make excuses and to avoid fights”.
So if we take the words of Gotzev into account then Peters “the Nigerian Nightmare” is the real champ not just interim: it’s only a mater of time. Meanwhile according to the rules governing the WBC it states as follows:
Rules 1.26 (4) and 1.27 of the WBC Rules and Regulations explicitly allows the WBC, in an instance where an interim title is applicable, to recognize as interim champion the winner of a previous elimination fight. Samuel Peter won not only one, but two final elimination bouts in a row against James Toney in September, 2006, and in January, 2007.
Rules 1.26 and 1.27 read:
1.26 Vacant Title. If a title becomes vacant for any reason, the Board of Governors may in its discretion take whatever steps or actions it deems necessary or appropriate to fill the title, including but not limited to: 1) authorize and cause to be instituted a tournament or elimination contest among leading available contenders in the division of the vacant title, with the winner being recognized as the new champion; or 2) authorize or cause to be instituted a direct bout between the two highest rated available boxers and recognize the winner as the champion; or 3) appoint as challenger the champion of a lower or higher division to contend against the highest rated available boxer of the division for the vacant title; or 4) recognize as champion the winner of a previous elimination bout. This list is non-exclusive.
The Board of Governors may impose such conditions as it deems proper and necessary in its discretion upon the new champion winning a vacant title, including but not limited to: 1) designating the boxer against whom the first defense of the title must be made (who may be selected from the highest rated available boxers or a boxer selected through a final elimination bout); 2) ordering the new champion to make his first mandatory defense within ninety (90) to one hundred and twenty (120) days of acquiring the title; 3) if requested and feasible, to approve one voluntary defense, with the condition that the winner must meet his official mandatory challenger next. This list is also non-exclusive.
1.27 Interim Championship. The WBC may order an interim title bout when a world champion will be temporarily inactive and unable to defend his title for a period to exceed 6 months due to:
a) certified medical reasons
b) a legal impediment; or
c) reasonable cause strictly beyond his control.
In ordering the interim championship, the WBC will follow any of the steps mandated in Rule 1.26. If the inactivity is estimated to exceed one (1) year, the title shall be declared vacant.
Upon the return of the champion, the WBC will order a mandatory bout for the undisputed WBC title with the interim champion. Both boxers are bound to participate in this bout and cannot participate in an intervening contest, except in special circumstances approved by a majority vote of the Board of Governors. If the bout is promoted through purse offer procedures, the purse split will be 55% for the champion and 45% for the interim champion. The WBC may alter this split at its discretion pursuant to the provisions of Rule 2.11(d).
If the champion does not return after a year of inactivity, he will forfeit the title to the interim champion, who will automatically become the undisputed WBC champion.
The World Boxing Council will present interim world champion Samuel Peter his WBC interim world champion title in the following days. Lets Maskaev gets well fast and we shall know if he has the will to battle The Interim Champ.
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