In the world of boxing, justice is the perfect ten who lives next door who only wants to remain friends with benefits with you exclusively. In other words, it does not exist. Consider the case of Ajose Olusegun, a fighter I have written about before. He is the WBCs number one contender. He has been that for some time, WBC title eliminator and $10,000 sanctioning fee and all. When Tim Bradley held that title, Ajose was the mandatory. He was supposed to receive his timely shot last year. * Instead, Bradley ran into promotional issues and the WBC, fearing theyd lose a sanctioning fee should those issues last long, stripped Bradley well before they should have. Rather than allow Olusegun, a 31 year old Nigerian fighter by way of England, and by all accounts a loving father of two and husband, to fight for the title as was his right already, the WBC offered the title to Golden Boy Promotions and Erik Morales. He fought September 30 for that vacant belt against a challenger no one had ever heard of. Olusegun fought on Shobox two weeks later in the aforementioned final eliminator, a fight he made roughly $15,000 for. Again, the fee for getting this ranking was $10,000. Olusegun won and looked good doing it. * His title shot should be next, right? Wrong. * Golden Boy Promotions has announced Erik Morales will next fight Danny Garcia, who is ranked number two by the WBC, on January 28. In December, the WBC held its annual fundraiser/convention in Las Vegas. Essentially, fighters, promoters and everything in between pay cash to have a meeting with the WBC council. Olusegun made his case before the council and made an impassioned plea. * *Mr. President, I want to say that I fought a final eliminator against Ali Chebah and won a unanimous decision, said Olusegun according to a fightnews.com report. Two weeks before, Erik Morales, who is a legend, won the vacant title against a guy who wasnt even ranked in the top 15. Morales got that title shot after losing a title fight for another organization. I have paid my sanctioning fees, I have been waiting for my shot. Morales is a rich man, I am not! I need to feed my kids! * After his speech, the council ruled that Olusegun would fight the winner of Morales/Garcia. What no one reported was that it was expressly stipulated by the Olusegun camp, including Lou DiBella, his promoter, and Damien Ramirez his adviser, that even an injury postponement of the fight wouldnt nullify the deal. That is significant because soon after the ruling, Erik Morales needed emergency gall bladder surgery which has now pushed back the fight to March 24. The WBC has stayed with their sanctioning of the fight, ignoring this crucial ruling. Lets face it, Morales name got him this second title shot in a row (he had previously lost a WBA title shot at 140 pounds). Olusegun has no name in the States, a style that is problematic for anyone, and a ticking clock at age 31. * Olusegun is left with the choice of waiting idly for the outcome of a fight that is now two months past the original date or fighting and potentially losing what leverage he has. * Now where are fight fans and their moral compass when this goes on? It seems they are content to see Morales fight a young gun theyve seen on TV. Never mind that guy is number 2 behind Olusegun. Never mind the WBC voted in favor of Olusegun across the board and even put in a clause to protect his valuable time waiting for this shot. Never mind his kids go hungry while he pays out 10 grand to get his title shot. What is he going to do? Sue? * As Ajose promoter says, A guys career does not progress when you are in court. * When the powers that be make sure you get your Mayweather PPV fix, Lamont Peterson is robbed of any joy he thought of having as champion, and Ajose Olusegun is avoided at all costs, legal or not, what will you the boxing fan/writer be outraged about then? I can only hope, your compass readings arent as off as they are right now. http://www.maxboxing.com/news/promo-lead/selective-outrage-mayweather-khan-and-olusegun
I have watched Olusegun for a while. He seems one of those fighters who wont get his chances until he has badly slipped which is terrible as he such a talented fighter. Certain styles give him problems. Did you see his first fight with N Wright? Still Olusegun won but Wright always tired late
ajose is a beast why cant he just get a big fite. hes 31 he still gots a lil left . instead of waiting around to fight winner of morales vs garcia there are plenty of options. go after lamont peterson . rios is moving to 140 maybe try n get him in there with you kotelnik matthysse theres options he has to sum how get out there n make a name for himself . i wouldnt even no who he was if he didnt fight on shobox that one nite. which he impressed that night
His manager actually said Erik Morales was killing the sport of boxing with people like that taking care of his career it's no wonder he's not getting his shot.
Good article.I've been following Ajose's progress for a while and I think his biggest problem is that he's #1 with the WRONG body.Even though I like Morales,as long as he wants to fight,Sulaimain will dance to Erik's tune.After the stroke they pulled with Chavez Jnr last week,they've completed the journey from being the most prestigious organisation to the most blatantly untrustworthy,and that's saying something. Can't see Ajose getting anywhere while Erik holds that belt.
Yeah Olusegun is getting screwed over here and I think if he's able to maintain the form from the Chebah fight he'd create major problems for Morales and many others in the division. I do have to say though I find Montoya's cries of injustice somewhat hypocritical here. His response to Martinez getting dicked around by the WBC once again was simply to shrug and say that he should have expected this and should work on "building his brand" instead. Why isn't that the response to Olusegun's troubles as well? Methinks the fact that a Top Rank fighter was the beneficiary in Martinez's case while Golden Boy are the ones doing the screwing of Olusegun has something to do with this particular discrepency.
That's a very good article. Boxing becoming more business then sport to benefit a few will be it's greatest downfall. Take this for example, ****in fanboys always talking about PPV sales and purses. As if that **** matters to anyone but those cashing the checks.
poor guy. they just gave morales a belt no matter who he was gonna fight, kinda alvarez winning a JMW belt vs a WW who wasn't even top 20 in the division below him
