MOSCOW, April 21 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian state-owned media holding VGTRK has declined to purchase broadcasting rights for the upcoming boxing matchup of Ukraine’s Wladimir Klitschko and Australian Alex Leapai, the company's press service told RIA Novosti Monday.
“We did not plan on broadcasting this bout. The rights were not purchased,” a source in the press service of the media giant said.
The Rossiya-2 sports channel, which is owned by VGTRK, typically broadcasts such fights. Wladimir Klitschko wrote on Twitter that he is sorry for Russian boxing fans, who will not see the fight scheduled for April 26 in Germany’s Oberhausen.
Wladimir Klitschko is a holder of WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO belts and a younger brother of Vitali Klitschko, also a famous athlete, who left the boxing ring last December to become one of the opposition leaders of the so-called Euromaidan protest movement in Ukraine, which lead to a military coup and the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych.
Vitali Klitschko recently announced he will be running for mayor of Kiev.
Russia has condemned the regime change in Ukraine and does not recognize the legitimacy of the country’s interim government.
Corrected name spelling
