It was less than three years ago, when the potential European fight of the year between undisputed junior welterweight king Kostya Tszyu and mandatory challenger Sharmba Mitchell, scheduled to take place in Olympiysky Sports Arena, Moscow, on February, 2004, was scratched for good due to injuries, suffered by Kostya during his preparation. The unlucky occasion ruined all the plans, leaving organizers with the black holes in their budget and boxing fans with the horrible feeling of being cheated. The fight wasn’t, however, canceled but was relocated to USA and took place in early November the same year.
It was when no one in Russia could really believe that the title bout would somehow be arranged in the largest country on planet in the nearest future. Financial losses, lack of interest among sponsors and sportive media as well as the absence of world-beaters in higher weight classes were the clear factors, preventing any important fight from being held in Eastern Europe.
Situation turned around considerably in the last two years. Starting from Valuev’s successful performance against WBA beltholder John Ruiz and going on with Vladimir Klitschko and Sergey Liakhovich dominant victories over Chris Byrd (IBF) and Lamon Brewster (WBO), it reached its highest point on August, 12, when 37-year old Oleg Maskaev completed the clean sweep by post-Soviet fighters, having knocked out WBC boss Hasim Rahman in 12th round of their brutal clash.
‘The Big O’ became the first champion among the Eastern European heavyweight bunch, who decided to defend his belt in Motherland. The negotiations were pretty complicated, but at last WBC #10 Japan-based Ugandan Peter Okhello was named as the voluntary challenger in early October, and the second only title fight in Russian boxing history landed on December, 10, at the same Olympiysky Sports Arena. The only previous title collision, held in Russia thirteen years ago, was the IBF cruiserweight championship between Al Cole and Glenn McRory.
