FRIDAY, November 12t,h 2004 AT 9:30 AM

With Great Power
Comes Great Responsibility

The action discussed above seems to be a common move with some sanctioning bodies. We here at the IKF ask WHY? Why would you make such a negative move that will stay with you, well, forever. The only thing closely related to this for the IKF was when the IKF Stripped IKF Pro FCR World Super Welterweight Champion Vladimir Avtamonov of Omsk, Siberia, Russia, (PKB: 22-1/11, AMKB: 35-5) after a long drawn out situation with his trainer/manager back then, Oleg Vadaturskiy of Russia. Avtamonov was scheduled to defend his title on October 26th, 2002, in Butler, Pennsylvania, USA against Jimmy Stewart. His trainer Oleg Vadaturskiy had insisted he would handle all necessary visa arrangements for their trip to the USA. However Vadaturskiy stopped returning any calls and e-mails from the IKF and the Stewart promoters 3 weeks prior to the planned event. It was eventually discovered that Vadaturskiy had never even attempted to attain the proper Visa's to come to America and had never informing the IKF or Stewart's promoters of this. To the best of the IKF's knowledge, although Avtamonov may have wanted to fight, Vadaturskiy had no desire to travel to the USA for the fight. The IKF later discovered Vadaturskiy had just started his own Russian Sanctioning body and was receiving funding from the government for it. The IKF also discovered he had been contacting other IKF promoters, asking for their business. Realizing he had no desire to bring his fighter to the USA to defend his IKF title, the IKF later made the decision in December of 2002 to retire the title from Avtamonov.

However, the IKF never "Banned" him from the rankings. He is currently ranked number three in the IKF Pro FCR Super Welterweight division. Lex Easdon of Paisley, Scotland as explained above was not as fortunate. Seems the organization he was a Champion in found money more important than the fighter himself. Not only have they banned Easdon, but they also banned all the Fighters, Trainers and Officials on the event. This is what it says on the other organizations web site today:

_______________________
XXX SCOTLAND SUSPENDED today by XXX WORLD OFFICE
After meeting with XXX World director , XXX World office has take the decision today 11/11/2004 to suspend and stop the XXX SCOTLAND representation.
( Fighters / Trainers / Officials / promoters are today suspended to participate in any XXX Event worldwide). Regarding the problem this week (Fight on 12 /11 / 2004) with the cancelation in last minute by M. EASDON Lex (promoter of the show in PAYSLEY) , of 2 XXX World title profesionnal without any available reason, regarding all the work done by XXX World office during a period of 3 month time:
Due to his behaviour against XXX members and XXX World office these last days and the irespectfull action and talking, M. Lex EASDON is not anymore recognize as XXX WORLD champion, and is not allowed to fight anymore under XXX rules and regulation with no limit of time. The XXX World title will be organise on 20 of NOVEMBER 2004 in POLAND with: XX vs XX and the winner of this fight will be the New XXX WORLD Champion in the division.
WXX World president will shortly set a meeting with XXX, the former XXX SCOTLAND representative to discuss about the possibilitie to save this situation (No payment of some WXX taxes and no respect of WXX Rules and regulation regarding contrat/rules and promotion) . In the case there is no agreement done, SCOTISH fighters won't be allowed to fight in any WXX event all around the world.
_______________________

Don't worry Lex, you are still rated as the number one contender in the IKF Pro FCR Middleweight rankings, same place you were even BEFORE this new news. We are sure you won't have any problem finding a fight with ANY organization and the same goes for the other fighters, trainers and officials working your event. Somehow WINNERS keep busy in this sport.

It appears as such but we don't know officially if this organization kept Lex in their rankings though. This is because they don't have rankings... What's new though with most other organizations. Well, the iska organization claims to have rankings. But guess what they did to their World Champion Randy Pogue of Pennsylvania just a couple of weeks back. Well, if you have been reading the news page here, you noticed Pogue could not defend his iska World Title in the state of California against top contender Brian Swartz of Foster City, California, USA because the State commission rules do not allow him to wear contact lenses. Instead of looking to book the event in another state, the iska just called up Pogue and flat out said, since you cannot accept the challenge, we are stripping you of your title. But here's the real joke or insult... iska pulled Pogue off their World Title listing but never ranked him back in the so called rankings. What's up with that?

To those in the IKF, this appears to be a simple case of abuse of power. Organizations can't just "At the blow of the wind" make such rash and unjustified decisions. There are consequences involved here they are not even considering. Where are their justified reasons? Pogue told iska he would have eye surgery so he could fight in California. Not good enough for iska though. What was good for them was to do what they did. But was it "The right thing to do?" Of course not. Remember what they did to Ramona Gatto, just to make another promoter happy? If not, Click Here. Now this other organization in Europe strips a fighter because he makes a stand not to pay added fees. What is going on people?

Trainers, fighters... and even Promoters... As you make your decisions to fight or work with or for certain organizations, don't forget to do your research on them like you would with any business decision. "Doing the right thing" to some of them seems to be a chore they choose not to do because it's too much work. Too much work like keeping their rankings updated, or their events pages, news pages, etc. etc. Too much work to "Follow their own safety rules" like amateurs and headgear - even though they say on their own website rules pages, that headgear for amateurs is MANDATORY. We cannot afford to align with LAZY People. LAZY people who do not do their part to progress this sport we love! Do their part to progress the work of OTHERS such as the promoters, fighters, trainers and officials. Some may choose to, and they come to the results like above. Unjustified decisions, cheating, lieing, money hunger actions that never take in any consideration for those making things happen in the sport (Trainers, fighters, officials and promoters), only themselves. Maybe we can see now why we are always a step behind to other sports around the world.

However to those associated with the IKF, officials, promoters, fighters and trainers, doing the right thing is part of this sport. The IKF letters do not make the IKF successful. The PEOPLE who represent the letters DO! We here at the IKF believe in THE PEOPLE of this sport, NOT our pocketbook or ego!

Back To Main OPINION PAGE, Click HERE!

Back To IKF HOME PAGE, Click HERE!