Saturday fight in Moscow when the WBC super heavyweight champion Vitaly Klichko defended his title from claims of Manuel Charr, a German citizen of Syrian origin, was aimed at calming down the conflicting sides in Syria.
“Unfortunately, the motto “O, Sport, You – the Peace” is forgotten today. There was a time when all wars and disputes stopped, and athletes devoted their victories to Gods and not to themselves,” the chairman of the Russian Boxing Council, Mikhail Denisov, says. “That is why we, people from professional boxing, urged the confronting sides to cease hostility during the boxing fight and watch the boxers on TV rather than corpses through a scope sight. We hope we would save at least one life by our urging.”
“Boxing is a power kind of sport; it attracts confronting sides,” the member of the Public Chamber of Russia, Georgy Fyodorov, explains. “They are equal in this kind of sport. One might like basketball, others don’t, but power kinds of sport and especially such a serious fight are an international event, an international festival of strength, nobility, good, honor, and respect to the rival. After this initiative many boys in the world will try to follow their example. I hope it is only the beginning of the tradition. We, social activists, will do our best for in Russia this initiative will be considered seriously. Perhaps other sporting events in our country will be such an initiative of peace and good. Our country has always been very peaceful. Our country could be a guide of peace, nations’ friendship, civilization living together with other civilizations for the states which found themselves in the situation of war. We remember the poem “Do Russians want the war?” I think the fight will consolidate our brothers in the whole world – those who understand nonsense of this massacre, those who understand that one saved life is one saved universe. Boxers are people of will and spirit. They won’t stop and will continue their positive deeds.”
“Our country loves to think about Russia’s image. Everybody deals with it,” the head of the Regional Problems Institute, Dmitry Zhuravlyev, states. “Huge sums of money are spent for it, great efforts – and it should be done, it is right – but I think this initiative will be much more efficient for Russia’s image than numerous arrangements. Russia seems to be a big mechanism on production of oil and gas where nothing happens. This initiative showed the world that there is something more than oil and gas in the country; that we are able to response on foreign problems and these problems became our own. This is an image of the country. If we establish this positive image, it will be a big contribution to the country’s life.”
