|
|
(JULY 22) WBAN has been in contact with
Akondaye Fountain in regards to an
upcoming fight she was going to have in China. Fountain was
supposed to fight in China on July 26, 2008. The fight will
not happen with Fountain, and she gives WBAN an inside view of the
frustration of trying to make this fight a go.
Fountain said, "Sue, I would like to let the boxing public
know how the people in China are doing business in regards to
fights. I was scheduled to fight Wang Ya Nan, July 26. However, due
to bad business on their end this will not happen. We have been
dealing with their unprofessionalism since April (the original fight
date was June 21st)."
"The contact person (Raymond Chang) informed us that the date would
move up a "couple" of days from June 21st. However, I then received
a phone call from a reporter on May 16th, and was asked if I was
fighting in China on May 31st. I told the reporter that I was
not fighting on that date, and that the fight was scheduled to take
place on June 21st. The reporter then stated that he was
looking on BoxRec, and the fight was posted for May 31st. As you can
imagined---I was totally shocked and unaware of this date change,"
said Fountain.
According to Fountain, her manager, George Couzza was never informed
of the new date.
Fountain told WBAN her manager was unable to make contact with
Raymond Chang at that time but did contact the WBC, and according to
Fountain, they were told that the fight was actually to be held on
May 24th, and that they had agreed on that date.
Fountain said, "We figured that they were trying to get us to pull
out from the fight or not be prepared to fight. This was the
beginning of all the drama. However, we did not pull out, we were
still going to take the fight and asked for a contract. Due to the
unfortunate disaster there in China with the earthquake, what they
were trying to pull at that time didn't work because they had to put
all sporting events on hold."
Fountain said that they then got a call from Raymond Chang in June,
stating that the fight had been rescheduled for July 26th.
"This was fine with us because I'm always training and we still
wanted to fight for WBC and WIBA title belts," added Fountain.
Fountain said that they asked for a contract, and that there was
correspondence about everything else---except a contract.
The saga continued for Fountain and her team from frustrating email
exchanges about the passport info, airline tickets, and the
list goes on...until July 14th, when Fountain was notified by
the WBC - WIBA that the promoter was looking for a new opponent, due
to the above mentioned email exchanges about the passports, the
fonts on the passports, etc.
Fountain told WBAN that the WBC and the WIBA denied the request for a new
opponent because she is the mandatory.
There was a continued dispute on when Fountain and her team could
fly over to be in China long enough to adapt to the environment, and
rest from possible jet lag, They were told that they would
have to pay for the hotel and food, while in China, anytime prior to
July 23rd.
"Again, we were going to comply with this ridiculous request because
we wanted the fight. Last but not least we were told that we didn't
need a Visa a couple of months into all of this drama, on Thursday
July 17th, we were told that we did need a Visa. So, on Friday my
team and I went to get a Visa and were turned away
because we did not have enough
information, no flight itenary or hotel information. At this point
we ceased all efforts and gave up hope of this fight going through.
We wanted the belts and went along with all their BS because were
confident that no matter what I would return to the US with the WBC
and WIBA, " stated Fountain.
|
|
|
|
