Outrage #1:
Vitali Klitschko just can’t BELIEVE that the WBC would be insisting he defend his new heavyweight title as they wish against Juan Carlos Gomez. That, despite what the WBC said here, according to Fightnews.com: “Vitali Klitschko recently regained the title he never lost in the ring by vanquishing reigning champion Samuel Peter. As a condition of the negotiations that went into making that fight, Klitschko was not given the option of a voluntary defense in the event that he won.” Let’s assume the WBC is lying. What right does Klitschko have to tell the WBC to shove it and allow him to fight who he wants to? The WBC maintained his status as “champion emeritus” for literally years as he recuperated from injuries, and before the Peter fight, tried to give him a shot at regaining his title in full; only litigation made it so that the WBC gave Peter got the shot instead of Klitschko. Sorry, Vitali. You gotta dance with who brung ya.
Outrage #2:
Interbox, promoter of super middleweight (168 lbs.) Lucian Bute, just can’t BELIEVE that the trainer of recent opponent Librado Andrade would call them “liars” and suggest that the referee was “controlled by Interbox.” Set aside whether the trainer actually said those things — the trainer, Howard Grant, apparently didn’t deny saying them, even though I can’t find the original quotes — but what reasonable person in Grant’s position wouldn’t say the exact same thing? In my years of following boxing, I’ve always been very hesitant to imply wrongdoing where no clear evidence existed, but this is one of two occasions — along with the scorecards of Joel Casamayor-Jose Armando Santa Cruz — where I’ve actually argued that an investigation is warranted. So imagine how the trainer of the fighter who scored a last second knockdown must feel, seeing how his opponent got an approximately 20-second count instead of the standard 10-second count. Maybee they have some sissy defamation laws up in Canada, but if I were Grant, I’d probably be sticking by comments, too, until somebody investigated and determined I was wrong.
