07.04.07 – Team Klitschko Release: Recently, mass media has been overflowing with various interpretations of the situation, which developed as a result of negotiations between Vitali Klitschko, Oleg Maskaev and Samuel Peter. Two parties have already laid out their reasons for the termination of negotiations, making it impossible to carry out the fight that was supposed to take place on June 2nd between Vitali Klitschko and Oleg Maskaev, who holds the title of world boxing champion under WBC..
Individuals from each party, insist that they were not at fault for the ruined negotiations, blaming others for the break in the process. However, judging by the way events played out surrounding the negotiations, it becomes evident that there were some unsolved issues. In order to find out what really took place that lead to the end of negotiations between Vitali and Oleg, we turned to the WBC boxing Champion Emeritus – Vitali Klitschko.
“My fight with Oleg Maskaev, that many fans all over the world have been waiting for, unfortunately will not take place. The main reason that negotiations terminated was due to unreasonable ambitions of both Samuel Peter and Oleg Maskaev, which made it impossible to find a compromise that satisfied all of the parties taking part in negotiations. These negotiations dragged on for three months.
On Wednesday, April 4th, we had received a message, in which one of the main partners of the negotiation process – HBO, informed us that with only eight weeks remaining before the fight, it would be impossible for them to produce a live transmission of the fight. Therefore HBO made the final decision, announcing that it would be impossible for me to face Oleg Maskaev on June 2nd.
Statements by Oleg’s promoter, Dennis Rappaport, that supposedly Vitali Klitschko had refused to carry out a fight against Maskaev, are absurd. I would like to point out once again that the only reason I decided to continue my sports career was to retake the championship title that I previously held, as well as to fulfill our dream of having two brothers as heavyweight boxing champions of the world.
My team gave their utmost and was ready to make any reasonable compromise so that this fight would take place as soon as possible. However, due to reasons outside of our control, carrying out this fight has become impossible. I do not desire to turn to sports arbitration court since this case could drag on and the fight would get postponed for some time. I don’t want to block any fights in heavyweight division, or deprive fans of much anticipated events. I want to give Oleg Maskaev and Samuel Peter a chance to face each other as soon as possible, so that I can face the winner. The WBC has already spoken to Maskaev and Peter’s promoters about organization of their boxing fight. I hope that Oleg’s fight against Samuel would take place in near future, as this would allow me to face the winner in the fall of this year.”