Boris Grinberg, manager of WBO Heavyweight Champion Sultan Ibragimov, couldn’t believe it when the news hit on Tuesday that WBA titlist Ruslan Chagaev was getting ready to go back into training, with his sights set on a title defense before the end of the year.
“This is disgraceful,” said Grinberg, whose fighter, Ibragimov, was scheduled to unify the heavyweight title with Chagaev on October 13th in Moscow before Chagaev pulled out of the fight with an unspecified ailment. “We were led to believe that this so-called champion was suffering from some severe sickness that was going to keep him out of action indefinitely, and despite the fact that we put a lot of time, effort, and money into making this fight happen, we believed his excuse. But now that we heard that Chagaev is coming back so soon, it’s obvious that his ailment wasn’t “an acute inflammation of the body,” but really just a complete
lack of heart, and that he has no intention of fighting the premier heavyweight in the sport, Sultan Ibragimov.”
Grinberg, along with Seminole Warriors Boxing, jumped quickly into action after Chagaev’s withdrawal, and legendary heavyweight Evander Holyfield and his promoter Main Events eagerly accepted the fight with Ibragimov, which will still be held at the Khodynka Arena in Moscow on October 13th, and that will be televised in the United States on DirecTV pay-per-view.
“Holyfield lives up to everything that has been said of him in the past, which is that he is a true warrior who will fight anyone at anytime and place, not like the other “Champions’”, said Grinberg. “Sultan Ibragimov is the same way and it’s why this fight on October 13th will be a great one. As for Chagaev, he could learn a few lessons from Ibragimov and Holyfield about how a real fighter should act.”
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