Sunday, October 14, 2001
Boxer thinking of war, Williams
Olympic champ from Uzbekistan wants two things: his allegiances understood and a rematch with Cincinnatian
By John Erardi
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Mohamad Abdullaev looks at the TV screen that shows a map of Uzbekistan, his homeland, with the arrows pointing to the southern border. He watches and hears the CNN anchorwoman and, though he can't understand her words, he knows.
He nods his head.
“It is good,” he says.
The name “Abdullaev” might sound faintly familiar to you.
He is the fellow who, last October in Sydney, Australia, beat Cincinnatian Ricardo Williams Jr. for the Olympic boxing gold medal in the 139-pound weight class. Williams Jr. brought home the silver.
Last October, you might have had a hard time finding 100 people in Greater Cincinnati who could locate Uzbekistan on a world map marked only with national borders and no names.
Today, you could easily find 100,000.
That is because Uzbekistan shares a border — about 85 miles of it — with Afghanistan. And Uzbekistan, a former republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, is allowing the U.S. military to use its air bases to amass troops and begin incursions into Afghanistan to root out the Taliban and the terrorists behind the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
“I am Muslim, not Taliban,” says Abdullaev.
He knows few English words. Those he knows, he delivers in a guttural, deep bass. But how well he knows those five. He has used them more than once since Sept. 11.
Six weeks ago, you might have had a hard time finding 10,000 people in the United States who could identify the Taliban as the ruling government in Afghanistan and the harborers of Osama bin Laden.
Today, you could easily find 10 million.
It is why Abdullaev chose those five words. Most Americans understand the difference. The Taliban harbors foreign terrorists. Most Muslims outside the Arab world — as in Uzbekistan, which is 90 percent Muslim — loathe the terrorism that has emanated from bin Laden's al-Qaida network in Afghanistan. Uzbekistan has been victimized by that terrorism.
A considerable portion of the Northern Alliance — the Afghan opposition to the Taliban — is composed of ethnic Uzbekis. They are the army primed to physically topple the Taliban, and then be a part of the United Nations-created government that replaces it.
Always dreamed of "gold'
I am Muslim, not Taliban.
With a name like Mohamad — actually, his real first name is “Mahamadkadyz” — Abdullaev would have had a difficult time denying his Muslim faith, even if he had wanted to.
But he doesn't want to.
He wants people to understand the difference between Islamic fanatics and the spiritually faithful. He prefers use of the word “fanatics” to “fundamentalists,” which he says wrongly implies there is something fundamentally moral about the slaughter of innocents.
He doesn't even like to see the word “Islamic” next to the word “terrorists” to describe these men he refers to as satans. They are terrorists, period, he says.
“I am Muslim, not Taliban,” he repeats.
He calls the Sept. 11 attacks “wrong” and says he is “sad.”
Through an interpreter — a fellow boxer in the gym where he trains as a professional — he tells a reporter that bin Laden and his followers have corrupted the tenets of the Islamic religion by resorting to terrorism.
“I hope they catch him,” says Abdullaev, referring to bin Laden.
He says he is proud that his native land is supporting the U.S. military.
But Abdullaev can empathize with the plight of Afghani refugees. He didn't grow up rich. His father was a truck driver. His family lived in Andijon, about 100 miles from the capital of Tashkent.
By the time he was 15, when he took up boxing because his father felt it would be good for him, Abdullaev became interested in proper training. He wanted to win a gold medal.
When Abdullaev was growing up, the USSR was a world and Olympic power. By 1991, when the USSR crumbled, it was neither. But Abdullaev continued boxing. And when he won Olympic boxing gold, he was the first person from one of the former Soviet republics to do so.
He is very proud of that.
His win over Williams in the Olympics received a lot of publicity. But Abdullaev also beat Williams in their only other meeting, two years ago in the World Championships in Houston. Abdullaev went on to win gold then, too.
“He (Williams) is a good fighter, but I will beat him again,” Abdullaev says, through his interpreter.
Abdullaev is 29; Williams is 20. That age differential probably had something to do with Abdullaev's previous two victories. Although Williams began boxing at 12 and had a lot of amateur fights, Abdullaev had more international experience. Abdullaev learned how to use the rules, and maybe how to bend them. When he beat Williams in the world championships, one of Williams' handlers said Abdullaev was stepping on Williams' feet, negating his speed.
But the tone in the handler's voice indicated no disdain for Abdullaev's abilities.
Rematch a promoter's dream
Three weeks ago, Abdullaev won the IBF's Asian-Pacific title in the 147-pound weight class. He won that belt in Tashkent. Going home to Uzbekistan was extra special for Abdullaev: His wife and two daughters, ages 6 and 2, live there. He supports them from afar and hopes to reunite the family someday soon.
Now he is in Las Vegas, where he works with trainer Kenny Adams, coach of the 1988 U.S. Olympic Boxing team in Seoul.
“I love America,” Abdullaev says.
Williams and Abdullaev will meet again. Maybe as soon as late next year or early 2003. Maybe at Cintas Center.
Abdullaev's manager, Ivaylo Godzev, got things started last June at Cintas Center when he was ringside at Williams' bout and said: “We beat (Williams) in Houston, we beat him in Sydney and we'll beat him in Cincinnati.”
Lou DiBella, Williams' matchmaker, said at that time the two men would fight again when one of them was a world champion and the other a top contender, or both were ranked contenders fighting for a shot at the title.
“I can assure you they'll both be 10-0 at some point and they (the boxing world) will be talking about the fight as a big fight,” DiBella had said. “We could put 6,000 or 7,000 people in here (Cintas) for that.”
As a pro, Williams Jr. is 5-0 (4 knockouts) and Abdullaev 4-0 (3 KO's). They each fight about every three months. So, they'll each be approaching 10-0, barring an upset, in a year or so.
When Abdullaev's interpreter was asked to pass one final question along to Abdullaev — “Are you going to fight Williams soon?” — trainer Adams kept the phone.
“I can answer that for him,” Adams said. “We'll fight when the money is right. It's a big fight: the guy who won the gold against the guy who won the silver. That's a dream fight. And I'll tell you this right now: We'll win. Nothing's gonna change.”
But one thing already has changed.
Depending on the outcome of the developments in Afghanistan, it may be hard for Cincinnati boxing fans to work up a heartfelt boo for Abdullaev on fight night.
Not when everybody understands he is from Uzbekistan. Not when everybody learns of Uzbekistan's support for the United States.
“We are friends,” Abdullaev says. “It is good.”
Those words wouldn't make much of a boxing poster. But, then, this isn't about boxing.
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Boxer thinking of war, Williams
