Pour en finir avec la polémique PORNSANAE vs Yetkin OZKUL
Par Julien LANCHAS le dimanche 16 mars 2014
Depuis 1 semaine, le combat entre PORNSANAE et Yetkin OZKUL fait beaucoup parler. C'est le poids de Yetkin OZKUL qui est au centre du débat, ainsi qu'une pesée qui n'aurait pas été faite avec les autres boxeurs. Nous sommes allés interroger les différents partis pour tenter d'en savoir plus.
Rachid SAADI : "Lorsque nous avons fait une petite pré-pesée le mercredi pour savoir où Yetkin et PORNSANAE en étaient, ils se trouvaient tous les deux aux alentours de 62kg et quelques. Mais durant la nuit, Yetkin a été frappé par une terrible gastro et pour pouvoir être remis sur pied, il était certain qu'il ne pourrait être au poids le vendredi pour la pesée officielle. Nous nous sommes alors mis d'accord avec l'équipe de PORNSANAE pour faire la pesée immédiatement le lendemain (jeudi). Yetkin était alors légèrement plus lourd mais seulement de même pas 1 kg. Jamais de la vie il pesait 72kg ! Sérieusement vous croyez qu'il peut atteindre ce poids là ?? Les Thaïs étaient d'accord avec tout ça ! S'ils ne l'étaient pas, ils l'auraient dit avant le combat ! Notre seule erreur, je le reconais, c'est de ne pas avoir donner de caractère officiel à la pesée que l'on a fait le jeudi."
Nous nous sommes adressés au camp Sitmonchai et leur avons exposé la version de Rachid SAADI. Voici la réponse.
Abigail McCULLOUGH (service relations avec l'étranger du camp Sitmochai) : "What Rachid told you is complete nonsense, which further attests to his dishonourable character.
On Thursday Pee Ae (Pornsanae's manager) and Rachid discussed what weight their fighters were fighting at -- 62 or 63kg. Rachid said he would check (what I don't know) to confirm but both fighters should be ready. At this point, no one from our team, including Pornsanae and Pee Ae, had any idea there was a belt on the line. Absolutely no mention of it had been made.
So on Friday, Rachid came to pick Pee Ae and Porsnanae up for the weight check at 1pm and he told them that Ozkul wasn't able to lose the weight because he had stomach issues (cramps and vomiting). He begged Pee Ae and Pornsanae at that point to continue with the fight because it would be disastrous for him if the show was cancelled. He put on a whole show about it, asking for paracetamol because he had such a headache from all the stress, etc., etc.
You probably know a little about what Thais are like culturally -- they are uncomfortable with conflict and put in a situation like this they would likely feel that they had no choice. And so it was. Pee Ae argued with him for a while, but when it was clear that there was really no other option for them, then they acquiesced. I can say that to a certain extent they felt beholden to the French promoter because they are not experienced world travellers and were fearful the purse would not be paid.
It wasn't until that evening -- after all this had transpired -- that the the belt was made known to Pee Ae and Pornsanae and our team. Friday evening. There was a press conference and the belt came out which was a shock to us all. I have a few friends (former students) who were there and they can attest to Ozkul's size and the surprise of it all.
I haven't even mentioned publicly the myriad other complaints our camp has about his treatment of Pornsanae and his manager: putting them on an outbound flight with a 13 hour layover in Qatar, not looking after their food or any other requirements after they acquiesced to the fight without checking weight, and also putting them on a return flight just hours after Pornsanae's match, which is incredibly dangerous. Presumably they did this to save a bit of money on the hotel? I'm not sure. But the whole experience was extremely disgraceful and I really feel that this promoter should be held accountable for his dishonesty and his shameful treatment of the Thais.
What's really upsetting is that he clearly thought he could get away with this because the Thais don't speak good English and they, by nature, were unlikely to complain. I have been with the camp for 5 years and the fighters are like my brothers. I have been helping to arrange fights for them internationally for the past couple of years and we've never had an incident like this. I speak Thai and so when they told me what had happened I felt it was important to share it and let it all out in the open for everyone to judge for themselves.
On Wednesday the 5th, Pee Ae and Pornsanae sat down with Yetkin at the hotel around midday and Yetkin himself told them he had 72 kg. Pornsanae and Yetkin were never told by the Rachid what Ozkul's weight was -- although later we've heard that he's been saying 64kg but this was never shared with our team, probably because they would know it wasn't true. After he made excuses about Yetkin being sick, they could have checked the weight anyway, and Pee Ae asked if they could, but they refused. So we only know for sure he was at 72 kg on Wednesday. As I said, some of our students were there though and they said Ozkul was well overweight. If you'd like to be in touch with them I can certainly put you in contact. 2 of those people are both fighters so they know the subtleties of weight cuts.
And I'd just like to point out the obvious -- how could they agree to a weight of 64kg if the title was for 62kg? It just doesn't make sense."
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