Lewkowicz slams King, supports WBA ranking of Singwancha
Lewkowicz slams King, supports WBA ranking of Singwancha
By G. Leon
10/04/2007
By G. Leon
10/04/2007
Matchmaker Sampson Lewkowicz, a representative of WBA lightweight mandatory Prawet Singwancha sent us the following statement via e-mail. "The fact of the matter is, we stepped aside on good faith when Juan Diaz fought Angulo. Then he gave us a date for Feb. 3 to fight Juan Diaz so the management and the fighter spent money on training and sparring and they never had the courtesy to call and say the fight was cancelled. Then they told us for $45,000 step aside to let them fight Casamayor on the understanding that the winner would fight Singwancha next. Again, there was no courtesy telling us the fight was off. Then they decide to make a unification bout and by that time a purse bid was mandated so we requested $100,000 and finally, to do the right thing for boxing, Singwancha and Juan Diaz, who is a great champion, we stepped aside for $80,000. We are expecting to fight the winner and in the meantime are currently negotiating a fight with Jose Miguel Cotto the next available contender. The sanctioning bodies gave the opportunity to Chris John who hadn't fought anyone much like Singwancha, but he beat, Oscar Leon, Smoke Gainer and Juan Manuel Marquez. Before that I'm sure people would say he fought nobody. Manny Pacquiao was the same thing, he never fought anybody before the IBF gave him an opportunity. Another one, I will give you three examples, is Michael Katsidis. He fought a bunch of nobodies and now he has a date on HBO. This is what the sanctioning bodies do, they make boxers who are insignificant, they're chance to prove their greatness. And Don King should know this better than anybody else. But Don King was the past, he's not the present and he won't be around for the future of boxing. It's already over for him."