Addressing those who think Maskaev should bow out of
this fight now that a title eliminator is sanctioned
Rappaport said, “A lot of fighters would have cancelled
this fight because the WBC has ordered that after this
fight Oleg fights a final title eliminator against Ray
Austin and the winner becomes the automatic challenger
to Vitali Klitschko. Oleg really wanted to fight in
front of his fans in Sacramento and even though he had
to sacrifice dollars to do it, he wanted to make the
tickets affordable so people in his own home town could
come and see him. Oleg wants to go on with this fight
with Aguilera and when he is successful then we go on to
the next chapter."
Speaking about Maskaeav’s little known foe Rappaport
noted, “Now we are not taking this Aguilera lightly, he
has fought some real quality guys and he has been asking
to fight us for a while. Really all the kid wants is an
opportunity. Oleg is ranked # 2 in the World and is on
the verge of a title eliminator…quite frankly this kid
wants to take Oleg’s place.”
“A lot of people were surprised when Oleg decided to go
on with the fight,” Rappaport quipped, “Then you look at
a guy like Kevin Johnson who was supposed to fight Solis
and as soon as he gets a title opportunity he pulls out
of the fight...we are not like that.”
In closing Rappaport exclaimed, “We have a dream; Oleg
is a Cinderella story in boxing and we are going to
shock the world against Austin and then the Cinderella
story begins chapter 2 when they say, “And the new
Heavyweight Champion of the World Oleg Maskaev”. And
for everyone who doesn’t believe in dreams remember the
words of Frank Sinatra about high hopes, an ant can move
a rubber tree plant if he has high hopes. Well we have
high hopes, Oleg became a champion and he will become a
champion again.”
Card begins at 7 p.m., with doors at 6 p.m.
Undercards TBA.
