Anyone who calls him a "belt hijacker", a "fraud" or questions his heart should fight Sahunne with a rib injury (and come out as the winner!). Having said this I am not happy with the situation and it is safe to say that most of the boxing fans in Hungary are not happy about the situation either. Zsolt has more talent to waste it on B and C level fighters he is fighting now. The problem is fourfold however (at least): 1, Zsolt is hungarian. Small country with little marketing potential. 2, He is at UNI. We all know Universum has a tradition the "protect" its belt holders. This is unlikely to change. 3, Zsolt is not young. It is unlikely that he will change (his promoter) at this stage of his carrier. 4, He is a nice guy. Really. He is not the type who would wish to destroy or humiliate his opponents in the ring. Unfortunately people often confuse his niceness with lack of heart or lack of determination. As for his goal to remain undefeated: I think he settled with this goal because it is the only realistic goal for him. Partly because of his low marketing potential, partly because UNI and partly because he is a dangerous fighter to anyone, it is unlikely that he will get a big fight (and not because he does not want). So, the only realistic goal that remains is to stay undefeated. In the past he repeatedly said that he would be happy to fight any of the big names. The Tiozzo and the Adamek fights were the closest to come through and would have offered Zsolt a good chance to show his skill. I do not know why the negotiations failed, more likely than not because of the lack of $. All in all, I am just frustrated as anyone else but that is not a reason to call him a "fraud" etc. If you ask the solution: I do not know. However, I would like to ask you guys whom do you think he should fight? (based on skill and availabilty)
Good post! Erdei has world-class skills and had the potential to become the man at LHW. He didn't achieve that goal. About the motivation thing: he used to say that he wanted to fight the best and that he wanted to unify. Now he doesn't say that anymore. I too think that he's just being realistic: he knows that with this management he has no chance for that. And let's clear something once and for all: someone said that Erdei is a national icon or hero in Hungary. He is NOT. Most people have heard of him, but his popularity is nowhere near that level. Boxing is not really a mainstream sport here.
To each his OWN. Just dont talk to me about Linnear championship as if it is some sort of be all or relevant majority status in the LHW Championship picture. Do what ya want and have a nice day! Statements like those pretty much eliminate Erdei from the "Title" picture. No matter the strap, theory, or trinket of prestige on display? A Champion should be pursuing the top opposition:good Erdei should have made statements about fighting the likes of Hopkins, Dawson, or Calzaghe:yep
That's hogwash. There are PLENTY of big fights he could make, simply because he holds a title (and because to the outside world he appears to be a weak titleholder), and he could make more money with quite a few of them than he would otherwise. You don't think Showtime would snap up Tarver vs Erdei? Don't you think Jones would want to fight Erdei to get a belt back? Yes, those fights would require him to go overseas, and he would probably get the lower cut despite being the champion, but they'd still probably bring him bigger purses than what he's making now. Heck, look at the WBO top 10. Every single name there is bigger than the ones he's been fighting. The sad part is that Hopkins has been their #1 contender for a while, but they won't step up and make him or Jones (who is #2) or even Diaconu (#4) or Tarver (#5) his mandatory. As for further jokes, anyone else notice that the WBO had Jaidon Codrington ranked #8 at LHW? HTF did that happen? He's never even fought at 175 before, and never said he was moving up! In any case, there's another easily beatable opponent who could probably get Erdei a decent purse, if Dibella and Dash and Contender choose to pursue that avenue.
WBO officials asked Jones if he wanted to be Erdei's MANDATORY when he was ranked no1. Jones refused and chose to fight Tito.
If they offered the mandatory to one, then they should move down the chain and offer the next person the mandatory spot. They shouldn't let the champ off the hook just because the contender would rather make another fight.
Well, the 2nd was Hopkins. He wasn't interested either. And if I remember correctly, all the fighters below had scheduled bouts (Diaconu was the mandatory of Dawson, Green and Tarver were supposed to fight eachother). The first available fighter on the list at that time was Garay at #6 whom he had already fought twice. Look I don't want to argue about this, it's qute pointless IMO. I fully agree that Erdei's "legacy" is basically non-existant as Haye has just pointed out. As I've already said he wanted to unify and fight the best in the division but his management didn't let him. Now it seems that he doesn't want it anymore. Maybe they paid him enough not to have such dreams, maybe he just got tired of fighting outside the ring, or he just has other priorities in life after the birth of his child. The sad thing is this guy could really have been something special. He has very good skills, awsome handspeed, one of the best jabs out there and a very decent defence. He would stand a good chance against any current LHW but unfortunately it's highly doubtful that he'll prove it.
Yes I've heard that form German commentators and posters on various forums but its simply not true. There are other sportsmen and women who are much better known than him. Even some football players, which is interesting considering the situation Hungarian football is in, nowadays.
1.) He fights in Germany, plenty of big fights are made there and the German promoters have the $$$ to lure top opponents. What does Hungary have to do with who Erdei fights? Most of the top fighters in Germany come from little countries with zero marketing potential yet still find themselves in big fights against name opponents. 2.)As with Maccarinelli and Warren, blaming the promoter is only 1/2 of the problem. If Erdei wanted to fight somebody good he could force his hand at the promoters. He's just not an ambitious fighter. He talks of his "legendary" fights with the Argentinean and builds up Tito Mendoza as if he were some legit threat. 3.) Not sure why u even mentioned this. See #2. 4.) There are plenty of nice guys in boxing. Where does this factor into his title reign? Nice guys can't fight real opponents? Hell, Miguel Cotto and Shane Mosley are a couple of nice guys and they fought each other last week. Let's see how nice Erdei is when the opponent is good enough to make it a real fight and don't bother us with the Sahnounne fight cuz his only claim to fame is being the guy who lost his title to Silvio Branco. Outside of that I never even heard of him. Like I said, excuses are not necessary. Erdei has no ambition on the world stage as far as proving himself and he's more than entitled to fight in obscurity against undeserving challengers. He just has no right to ever consider himself as being anything other than a beltholder.
I agree. But should not that top opposition actively seeking out the champion too? I am not aware of any of the "top guys" challenging Erdei ever.
We all know that Hopkins has a bigger fish to fry. Jones or Tarver could have fought Zsolt any day they wanted. As Darien said Jones was the mandatory for Zsolt yet he never took the opportunity. Why? Aslo, Tarver chosed to fight Santiago (!!! who was just defeated by Zsolt) instead of challenging Zsolt. Why? Diaconu I do not know. There were rumours about a Diaconu fight but now it seems out of question as Diaconu supposed to fight Dawson. Btw, just to make it clear, I am not defending the choice of his latest opponenst (Blades, Santiago, etc).