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Last Monday, the WBC board voted in Samuel Peter as its interim heavyweight champion after Oleg Maskaev pulled out of their October 6 championship bout.
Maskaev, who injured his back while in training camp, says he needs at least three months in order for the injury to heal. But his camp fails to note the fact that he hasn’t defended his title since his unanimous decision win over Ugandan Peter Okhello.
The WBC board states that a champion must be active and with an already ten-month lay off, it would be a year plus before the Californian by way of Kazakhstan would be able to again defend his title.
Oleg Maskaev has not been stripped of his belt. Samuel Peter, the WBC mandatory number one contender, has only been given an interim title. And it isn’t without good reason.
After paying a sanctioning fee to fight in a WBC eliminator against James Toney a year ago, which resulted in a hotly contested decision, the WBC ordered a rematch between the two in January, to which Peter paid another sanctioning fee, and won definitively, reconfirming him as the mandatory number one contender.
In the aftermath, former WBC champion Vitali Klitschko decided to return to the ring to reclaim the belt he never lost. The WBC had given him the title Champion Emeritus, meaning he could step ahead of everyone in line to become the automatic mandatory.
This incensed the Peter camp and after a lengthy legal battle, during which Peter was allegedly offered millions in step-aside money by the Klitschko brothers, the WBC decided Samuel Peter would be the one to face Oleg Maskaev and Vitali Klitschko would automatically face the winner.
And after several months ,a date was set for October 6. With much fan anticipation for an elite heavyweight battle, it came as a great disappointment for us that this particular fight has been postponed.
Jameel McCline is a rather poor replacement for Maskaev, but considering the hoops that Peter has had to jump through to get a title shot, I can’t blame him for not taking a chance.
What the Maskaev camp has also failed to consider is how the legal run around and now Maskaev’s injury have also kept Peter inactive as well. The WBC may have made their decision considering those factors in combination to the two eliminators they made him fight with James Toney.
Purse split issues aside, considering a more active fighter should get more money, what does Oleg Maskaev have to complain about? The Champion Emeritus issue was equally not Sam Peter’s fault and once that was finished, a fight date was set between the two.
Fighters get injured all the time and don’t get stripped of their titles. Take Jesus Chavez, for example. After defeating Leavander Johnson for the IBF title in September 2005, Chavez didn’t defend it until a year and a half later against Julio Diaz. Diaz won the interim belt in May of 2006, even less time than it’s been since Maskaev defended his WBC title.
The heavyweight division is a shambles. You can’t fault the WBC for trying to right themselves by bringing a degree of legitimacy back into the sport. If Maskaev indeed feels he is still the champion, the belt is there for him to cement his championship as soon as he is healed.
But until then, we’d like to get on with the show.
