Russia finds long-lost son in world boxing champion
MOSCOW, Tuesday - Fleets of black Mercedes, pinstripe suits and chunky gold jewellry: Moscow brought out all its finery for WBC heavyweight boxing champion Oleg Maskaev.
MOSCOW, Tuesday - Fleets of black Mercedes, pinstripe suits and chunky gold jewellry: Moscow brought out all its finery for WBC heavyweight boxing champion Oleg Maskaev.
Maskaev won an unremarkable victory to defend his title against Peter Okhello of Uganda mid December. But the show was never really about the fight itself — it was about hailing a newly-minted Russian hero.
On the eve of the match, President Vladimir Putin signed an order granting Russian citizenship to Maskaev, an emigre from the former Soviet Union who now lives in the United States and is a US citizen.
“I am very happy about it,†Maskaev said. His trainer, fast-talking Victor Valle Junior, said: “Oleg’s not just Russian. He’s super-Russian!â€
The Russia theme was all around at a packed Olimpysky stadium.
“Rus-sia!†“Rus-sia!†chanted a crowd of some 10,000 people.
Many waved Russian flags and unfurled banners with slogans like: “Your Countrymen Are With You!†and “Oleg: We Need A Victory!â€
The evening began with a song about Russian folk hero Stenka Razin, a famous bandit, and the national anthem belted out by Iosif Kobzon, a popular singer known as the “Russian Sinatra†because of his friendships with mobsters.
Maskaev, 36 years old and 108 kilos, stepped towards the ring, his face concentrated into a scowl that contrasted with the fixed smile of the beauty queen brandishing his WBC (World Boxing Council) title belt.
During the fight, even the tough anti-riot police officers, who were patrolling a VIP area near the ring filled with celebrities and politicians, gazed up at Maskaev and muttered words of encouragement.
Maskaev was born in 1970 to ethnic-Russian parents in Kazakhstan when the Central Asian country was still part of the Soviet Union. He fought in youth leagues and perfected his boxing as a Red Army champion.
In the days ahead of the fight, Russian newspapers detailed Maskaev’s hard-scrabble upbringing and stories about him always feeling an outsider after emigrating to the United States in 1995.
The travails of his life and career, in which Maskaev has suffered a number of defeats, are portrayed in the media as those of a generation of Russians who lived through the fall of the Soviet Union.
After the Soviet crash, in Russia’s wild capitalist years, many boxers chose a more lucrative life in organised crime or in private security firms and the sport suffered a steep decline.
In recent years, boxing has picked up in the former Soviet territories.
Russia won nine gold medals in 11 categories at the European Amateur Boxing Championships earlier this year. Ukraine’s Wladimir Klitschko is the IBF (International Boxing Federation) champion.
Another Russian, Nikolai Valuev, who attended the Maskaev-Okhello fight, holds the WBA (World Boxing Association) heavyweight title and has an undefeated career record.
After the victory, Russian media claimed Maskaev as their own, even though the boxer has given no signal that he and his family would like to move to Russia from their home in California.
AFP
Maskaev won an unremarkable victory to defend his title against Peter Okhello of Uganda mid December. But the show was never really about the fight itself — it was about hailing a newly-minted Russian hero.
On the eve of the match, President Vladimir Putin signed an order granting Russian citizenship to Maskaev, an emigre from the former Soviet Union who now lives in the United States and is a US citizen.
“I am very happy about it,†Maskaev said. His trainer, fast-talking Victor Valle Junior, said: “Oleg’s not just Russian. He’s super-Russian!â€
The Russia theme was all around at a packed Olimpysky stadium.
“Rus-sia!†“Rus-sia!†chanted a crowd of some 10,000 people.
Many waved Russian flags and unfurled banners with slogans like: “Your Countrymen Are With You!†and “Oleg: We Need A Victory!â€
The evening began with a song about Russian folk hero Stenka Razin, a famous bandit, and the national anthem belted out by Iosif Kobzon, a popular singer known as the “Russian Sinatra†because of his friendships with mobsters.
Maskaev, 36 years old and 108 kilos, stepped towards the ring, his face concentrated into a scowl that contrasted with the fixed smile of the beauty queen brandishing his WBC (World Boxing Council) title belt.
During the fight, even the tough anti-riot police officers, who were patrolling a VIP area near the ring filled with celebrities and politicians, gazed up at Maskaev and muttered words of encouragement.
Maskaev was born in 1970 to ethnic-Russian parents in Kazakhstan when the Central Asian country was still part of the Soviet Union. He fought in youth leagues and perfected his boxing as a Red Army champion.
In the days ahead of the fight, Russian newspapers detailed Maskaev’s hard-scrabble upbringing and stories about him always feeling an outsider after emigrating to the United States in 1995.
The travails of his life and career, in which Maskaev has suffered a number of defeats, are portrayed in the media as those of a generation of Russians who lived through the fall of the Soviet Union.
After the Soviet crash, in Russia’s wild capitalist years, many boxers chose a more lucrative life in organised crime or in private security firms and the sport suffered a steep decline.
In recent years, boxing has picked up in the former Soviet territories.
Russia won nine gold medals in 11 categories at the European Amateur Boxing Championships earlier this year. Ukraine’s Wladimir Klitschko is the IBF (International Boxing Federation) champion.
Another Russian, Nikolai Valuev, who attended the Maskaev-Okhello fight, holds the WBA (World Boxing Association) heavyweight title and has an undefeated career record.
After the victory, Russian media claimed Maskaev as their own, even though the boxer has given no signal that he and his family would like to move to Russia from their home in California.
AFP