“Were they afraid that I might knock out Ismailov? Fighter Ilic accuses Russian league of cheating with money

Fighter Ilic burst into Russian media on August 26, 2022, when, as an unknown fighter, he defeated Alexander Shlemenko at the RCC tournament in 22 seconds. Just a month and a half later, on October 7, Ilic fought in the Pravda organization against Magomed Ismailov according to boxing rules. One nuance – Ismailov has repeatedly stated that he will receive 30 million rubles for this fight. League president Khetag Tsopanov confirmed the same. The six-round fight was not the best and Ismailov won by decision. After the fight, Tsopanov was unhappy with the Serb’s passivity in boxing. They barely remembered Ilic, but 14 months later he came to Russia for a rematch with Shlemenko and “set fire” at the press conference.

— At a press conference, you stated that the Pravda organization had not fulfilled its obligations after your boxing match with Magomed Ismailov. What happened?

– These people do not respect the contract, Maga is a guy who gives his word, who talks a lot, makes a lot of promises, but in reality nothing. I also did not receive part of the money from my contract, and I do not like this situation, I was mistreated by Pravda, there are a lot of unpleasant details, but I would not like talk about it a lot, because now I’m focusing on fighting Shlemenko at RCC.

-Can you tell me how much you owe?

– No, I can’t speak.

— What did Magomed Ismailov promise you?

— I received an invitation from Magomed Ismailov after my fight with Shlemenko. He said we could do good work, earn a lot of money and have great prospects if I joined his project. He said he would contact big people, the organizers. He said he was someone who could guarantee anything, but in the end he tricked me. Nothing we talked about. I’ve been in about 20 MMA fights and this boxing fight was the worst experience of my life. 100%, from food and restaurants to locker rooms and gloves. Pressing between turns, all the things associated with it. In the end, Maga promised me that since I was going home without money, since I hadn’t been paid, he told me that he had given me his word that we would write or call and everything would be fine GOOD. But if you’re a big guy, if you have big balls, a big name, if you’re a big star in Russia, then what’s the problem? If you won 400,000 dollars for a boxing match, give money from your fee, it’s your name, it characterizes you. If you came to Serbia and I was your guarantor and you were framed, I would give all my money, because no one can trample my name in Serbia. This is the real deal. And now?! A year passed, it was October. Why do I still want to beat Shlemenko? Because it’s a step towards fighting Maga in the next fight. And I’m going to knock him out brutally. I’m going to knock him out brutally, because he knows it’s going to be MMA, it’s not going to be boxing. One day I will finish my work and he will see what happens.

— What was the pressure between rounds?

– You can ask Pravda, but they came to our corner and shouted at us to give up the fight.

I don’t dispute the fact that he won according to the rules of boxing, there’s no doubt about that. Maybe he would have even beaten me in boxing, even if I hadn’t been sick before the fight, as I was at the time. But they know what kind of gloves they were. The gloves were small and I couldn’t make a fist. Were they afraid that I might knock out Magomed Ismailov? I didn’t have a real hotel room, I didn’t have hotel food. If he is a star in Russia like Conor McGregor, I don’t respect him, let’s do everything honestly. And one more thing: if they want to see what it was like, if they want to remember what it was like, I have all the text messages, all the voicemails from him and his brother. I don’t care, I can show you anything you want. Let me show you if you want, I’ll do my job. I’ll show you if they mean I’m lying. This is a fight I was supposed to get money for, but for some reason it got stolen.

—When was the last time you had a dialogue with anyone on this issue?

– A few days ago. We discussed with Magomed’s brother that if they don’t pay me, I will come to Russia and tell everything. I will not remain silent in front of the media and I am not worried. He may be 10 times better than me, he may have a bigger name than me, he can beat me 10 times, but he didn’t act like a good guy.

— Why are you communicating with the Ismailov brothers and not with the head of Pravda, Khetag Tsopanov?

— Khetag does not respond to my messages. He didn’t even buy me fucking plane tickets, I stayed in Russia for 10 days. I didn’t have any food at the hotel. I couldn’t warm up properly in the locker room, I couldn’t make a fist in my glove. If they want to kill me to silence me, let them come and kill me, but I will not remain silent. If you want to check, I will provide proof.

— Have you signed a contract? And why can’t you go to court with him?

– Yes, I signed the papers. But it seems to me that it is impossible to go to court with them given the level of corruption and crime that exists all over the world today. Do you think if I show up to court with papers it will affect anything? I don’t think so, I told them: “I’ll give you a year, but I’ll go back to Russia and you won’t shut my mouth.” »

— Do you know how “Truth” is translated?

– Yes, of course, I think it means the same as in the Serbian language – it’s true. Great!

Response from boxing promotion Pravda

“I don’t know who or what is motivating this man and why he says “black” when he says “white.” Apparently, after his failed performance against Magomed Ismailov, he decided to attract attention by brilliantly performing in the drama genre.

But to this speech the classic would respond: “I don’t believe it”.

We will answer with facts in the near future, but for now ask yourself: why was he silent for a whole year, and why was his opponent, Magomed Ismailov, his guarantor? , – reported a call from the head of Pravda boxing, Khetag Tsopanov.

“” is ready to publish an interview or comment from Tsopanov and, through the press secretary of the League, sent the following questions to the official:

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