There were no riots to worry about and there were no bad blood as well, when current WBC heavyweight titleholder Oleg Maskaev met his future opponent Peter Okhello (ranked 10th in the world by WBC) for the first time during Tuesday press conference. The final presser for the huge upcoming show, featuring Maskaev – Okhello heavyweight championship as a headliner, was held at “Arbat” fight club, Moscow, Russia. A good share of boxing celebrities attended, including living legend Kostya Tszyu, promoters Edward Gumashyan and Evgeny Pustovalov and the best of Russian sports media.
Maskaev, his coach Victor Valle Jr., his manager Fred Kesch, his promoter Dennis Rappaport, promoter Vladimir Hrunov, producers Yuri Fedorov and Maxim Volkov, and former amateur legend Victor Petrovich Ageev (the president of Russian Professional Boxing Federation) were all on hand to answer any possible questions. Representing challenger’s camp were Okhello, his coach Cornelius Boza-Edwards (former WBC junior lightweight titleholder) and his manager Toshiro Matsuo. Both fighters seemed pretty relaxed, though this perception could have probably been false as Okhello (18-4, 16 KOs) was spending his second only day in Moscow. However, there were no signs of war and the atmosphere in “Arbat” was friendly enough for both teams to smile more than to shout angrily or to provoke the opposite side.
