It seems that Charles ‘The Killa’ Whittaker will get on the undercard of the controversial boxing show in Grand Cayman after all.
Whittaker feels snubbed. Photo: Ron Shillingford |
Although Whittaker has been offered $10,000 to fight on the $1 million promotion on June 20, he has rejected the offer as being too low. ‘That’s the sort of purse my opponents get,’ said Whittaker. ‘That would barely cover my training expenses.’
All will be revealed today as Minister of Tourism Charles Clifford and boxing promoter Dan Goossen from Goosen Tutor Promotions will be holding a press conference in George Town.
Top of the bill is former United States Olympic gold medalist and undefeated super-middleweight Andre Ward who will fight former Dominican Olympian Jerson Ravelo.
They are here to promote the ‘Cayman Knockout: Championship Boxing’ event at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex.
Ward (15-0, 12 KOs) and Ravelo (18-2, 12 KOs) will fight for the NABO super-middleweight championship in a televised Showtime bout.
A win for Ward, the only US boxer to win a gold medal in either of the last two Olympics, will push him closer to his goal of a world championship. Ravelo, who competed on the popular The Contender TV series, is coming off an impressive victory over previously undefeated prospect Paul Buchanan.
Earlier this week, Whittaker was fuming that the Ministry of Tourism had negotiated the show, apparently without intending to put him on the bill, despite Killa being Cayman’s only professional fighter and a world class one as well on the verge of a world title fight.
That bout was arranged weeks ago with two heavyweights on the undercard but Whittaker was only told, he claims, by Clifford on Sunday, that he would be on the undercard. Whittaker feels snubbed and disappointed and initially felt inclined not to appear on the show.
In a statement, Clifford said: ‘Here are the facts: Charles Whittaker was with me in Las Vegas last year when I held the first meeting with Goossen Tutor Promotions about the possibility of having a boxing event in Cayman.
‘At the meeting I advised that the primary objective would be to stage a promotional event for the destination and to the extent that Charles’s professional development as a boxer could be enhanced through this event that would be value added for us and something that we would be happy to facilitate.
‘This was the consensus and negotiations with GTP have continued since that time, with the understanding that Whittaker would fight on one of the undercard fights in a Cayman event.
‘It has been agreed that Charles’ fight will be taped and we are in discussion that should the main fights end early, Charles’ fight will also be broadcast on television.’
But Whittaker said that when his manager Raul Alvarez contacted GTP they had no intention of putting them on the bill.
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