By Bryce Wilson
Boxing can be a strange and fickle mistress. On one hand it takes and on the other it gives. Undefeated heavyweight Izu Ugonoh could certainly attest to that adage as in the last few weeks he has seen a potentially high profile fight in his native Poland collapse under the usual myriad of boxing politics while also watching his ranking with the IBF move to a career-high 15.
As we sit down in Auckland ahead of his preparations to fight for the IBF Mediterranean title against Frenchman Gregory Tony we start by covering the disappointment of the failed negotiations for a big fight in Poland. Originally Ugonoh and his team had entered into good faith discussions with Polish broadcaster Polsat to face fellow Polish contender Andrzej Wawrzyk in late 2016. Despite the superior experience of Wawrzyk, whose only loss had come at the hands of Alexander Povetkin, and a relatively modest purse offered by Polsat, Team Ugonoh had green-lighted the fight.
Negotiations stalled when Polsat informed Ugonoh that Wawrzyk had passed on their fight to instead face the highly respected Mariusz Wach. In the typical roundabout nature that typifies the sport Wawrzyk also pulled out of that fight leaving Polsat to offer it to Ugonoh instead, and for a purse that if wasn’t quite insulting, was certainly considered far too low for the risk in facing someone as dangerous as Wach.
Izu has his own take on what happened, ‘the whole situation is just business at the end of the day. If you look at in the Polish media, Polsat never really talked about me fighting Wawrzyk. I’m not a politician, but the way they (Polsat) put it, I think it was always their intention to mention Wawrzyk while actually luring us in to fight Wach. Of course I didn’t see it, I was the one that still wanted to fight Wach even for virtually no money. Luckily I have some good people behind me who are wanting to take care of my business and they convinced me that it isn’t the right idea for now.’
And with the jump that Polsat was asking you to make with facing Wach, then surely they had to make it at least financially appealing to you?
‘Agreed. Listen, if the fight with Wach was for a number one position with an organization, or if Wach was a world champion, then for the amount of money they were offering you’d take the risk as the reward is so great and would put me in a great position. Now if neither of those outcomes are on offer then at least the money has to be right, but unfortunately the offer from Polsat was none of those things.’
I put it to Izu that with his ranking with the WBO at 12 and with this jump to 15 with the IBF, future fights will hopefully become easier to make?
‘Oh I really believe so. I want the fights that see me get tested. As a fighter I’m ambitious, I feel good in training and sparring. I don’t understand the politics and it can be frustrating.’
Part of this frustration can also be put down to the constant changing of proposed opponents. Ugonoh’s camp had almost locked in the durable Brazilian fighter Marcelo Nascimento, in what would have been a nice warm-up bout before his big fight in Poland later in the year. And now much like the Polish situation the outcome changed on a dime as Nascimento went down with an injury leaving Gregory Tony to be shuffled in to his place.
On paper it looks like easy work for Ugonoh with Tony losing 4 out of his last 6 fights, but a scroll further down his record shows that the Frenchman also owns a victory over Carlos Takam when Takam was sitting at 18 and 0. This means that despite his recent record Tony obviously knows how to fight. Izu is adamant that he won’t make the same mistake that the undefeated Takam did.
‘People might look at Tony’s recent record but I’m looking further than that. It takes talent to beat someone like Takam. He also gave Richard Towers all he could handle. Add to this that he has been a champion kickboxer and I’ve watched him fight many of my favourite kickboxers over the years, so I know he won’t be afraid. He’s coming to fight and that’s how I understand the situation and I’ll be ready to go to war if that’s what it takes.’
I wonder how frustrating it is for Izu being that this was the first time in his career that he had his next few fights mapped out, only for them to be taken away?
‘The truth is the whole team was looking forward to going to Poland, moving the camp to Europe. But that’s how things happen sometimes. It’s difficult because I have a lot of fans in Poland and I really wanted to give back and make a big fight for them. What you have to remember is I also sacrificed six months of my boxing career to go back home and do ‘Dancing with the Stars’ to help build my profile for a big fight over there and now they want me to sacrifice again for the main event. I mean c’mon!’
It’s definitely been a strange few weeks for Ugonoh, first watching his dream of fighting in a main event fight in Poland evaporating into a murky puddle of boxing politics and double dealings while simultaneously seeing his ranking with the IBF rise to a career-high 15 and a fight for their Mediterranean title against Gregory Tony.
Ugonoh views it philosophically, ‘it is what it is. I recognize now that I wanted to fight in my home country so badly that I was prepared to agree to anything which wouldn’t have been in my best interests. But luckily I’ve got a good team around me and I understand that we have to take a long term approach and as long as I keep winning and doing my thing in the ring other opportunities will open.’
So for now thoughts of Poland will be placed on the backburner, a project for another day, while instead a fight with a durable journeyman now lies ahead and from there Ugonoh and his team will reset, reload and fix their sights on bigger and better fights in far off places. Such is the lot of the professional prize-fighter, those seeking a regular and predictable lifestyle need not apply.
Izu Ugonoh 16(13)-0 faces Gregory Tony 21(16)-6 at Vodafone Events Centre, Auckland, New Zealand on October 1st.
