Gerula feels fix was in in title loss
But Predator pins hopes on rematch
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/12/2010 (5425 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
With no boxing belt now and an ache in her heart, her impending 10-round title rematch is bringing tidings of comfort and joy to Olivia (The Predator) Gerula this holiday season.
Gerula, Winnipeg’s most famous female boxer, experienced boxing’s seedier side two weeks ago when she lost her WBC super featherweight world championship belt to Sweden’s Frida Wallberg by unanimous decision in Stockholm.
Gerula believes, as do many in the international boxing community, that she was robbed of her title for political reasons. Boxing has been banned in Sweden since the early 1970s and the WBC wants to gain a foothold there.
“It really feels like it didn’t matter what I did, I wasn’t coming back with my title. This is the sport that I love and I never imagined something like this could happen. I feel that I won my fight,” Gerula said, noting it’s a long-standing tradition in boxing that close rounds go to the champion, not the challenger.
“If you’re going to beat a champion, you need to beat the champion. Lay a beating to them so there isn’t anyone who can even question if you beat them or not. It’s not ‘oh, it was close,’ which is why I’m pointing people to the link.”
Gerula knew going in that her eight-round fight was historic in Sweden, as will be the 10-round title rematch mandated in a clause in her contract that stipulates it will be held within six months in Sweden.
“It was the first eight-round fight there since about 1967. In order to get a 10-round fight sanctioned, I don’t know how many years of law it would have taken. By me losing my title, there’s a 10-round match put up there. I don’t know when the last 10-round fight was sanctioned there (in Sweden).
“I’d like to be more happy about that, but since I’m the one thrown under the bus, I can’t, really.”
Though many of her supporters are calling for the rematch to be fought outside Sweden, Gerula said that is unlikely.
“The whole reason for this debacle is so Sweden can get a 10-round fight and so boxing there is promotable,” she said. “Now they have a WBC world champion, boxing is authentic in that country. It’s far beyond me, far beyond one fight, and that’s the truth of it.
“I would have asked for a bigger payday if I knew I’d be taking one for the team,” Gerula joked.
An analysis of the fight by www.theboxingexaminer.com suggests: “The best political and financial move for the WBC is to have Wallberg as champion. She has the support of the Swedish media and a promoter with money. Gerula, on the other hand, is not well known in Canada, nor does she have a big promoter that can command large purses… the WBC can take a percentage of.”
Gerula, who has watched the fight with her family, said the video shows she was so sure she won that at the end of the fight she is smiling, shaking hands, “standing there with my shoulders square and chin high” and nodding as the judges’ scores are announced. When the decision is announced, she gives an incredulous, palms-to-the-sky reaction.
“It’s heartbreaking, really,” she said. “I’ve dedicated so much of my time and heart to this sport, trying to make it grow and prosper, and then to have something like this go down and be faced with ‘well, what now?’ (after) 13 years of work put into the sport, the faith is a little shaky.”
Grateful for all the support she’s received from family and friends, Gerula said she recently got some from an unexpected source.
“The gentleman who set up the fight actually called me and apologized. He said he was embarrassed by the way everything went down,” Gerula said.
She said she expects the title rematch to be between three and six months from now. She’ll be ready for anything this time.
“I don’t have anything to lose. I can’t be screwed over any more than I already am,” she said. “I am taking this rematch in the hopes that this will all be put to rights and everything will be restored to the way it should be. It’ll be springtime in Sweden, which I am looking forward to seeing.”
ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca
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