Yesterday afternoon Boxingtalk.com received a call from former WBO heavyweight champion Sergei Liakhovich. "Greg, I don't know what kind of games Don King and John Ruiz are trying to play. Like I've said many times before, I have a letter from the WBA that Don King sent to us. If John Ruiz wants to know something about this letter he needs to contact his promoter and take care of this. They challenge me to produce the paperwork but they can screw themselves. We don't negotiate through the internet, we just know what the facts are. The WBA ordered me to fight Valuev and we're expecting them to enforce that in China. 

"I spoke with Don a few days ago and he called me to fight John Ruiz, and I didn't understand the reason, but what he offered was basically sign the contract for John Ruiz, but you won't have to fight him. I'll get you a tune up fight, I'll get you the opponent and you can fight basically for free in Chicago.

"I don't know what the scheme behind it is, but fighting Ruiz means nothing. The Valuev fight has been ordered and it should be reinforced. There's some kind of conspiracy going on down there in Chicago, but I don't care to know about it."

GL: What is Don King telling you about this situation?

Sergei Liakhovich: "He tells me nothing. He treats me like a nobody. Sign the contract and we'll go from there, but that's bullshit. I'm not fighting a nobody for no money or no reason. I hear that King has a problem with Ruiz and honoring his contract and he's about to have the same problem with me. How good would it have been if two fighters could have fought for nothing just so the contract could be honored. That's not the right way to do things, but this is the business we have."

"The way Ruiz is talking it's like he thinks I'm lying about the letter, but Don King produced the letter that he received from the WBA. When the WBA decided to allow Valuev to take a tune up fight before he fought Sergei, we didn't make a fuss about that."

GL: Is the WBA trying to backpedal?

SL: "I'm not saying that. I'm expecting them to honor their letter. If the fight doesn't happen, it's simple that Don King is behind it."

M

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