Manager Bas Boon Talks About Alistair Overeem's Enormous Growth as a Fighter

[SinCitysmallGUY]

K1 Legend has an interview with Overeem manager Bas Boon and they ask him straight up about Overeem's remarkable physical growth over the past few years:

K-1 LEGEND: Overeem’s move to heavyweight has seemed to really give his career a giant jump start, what prompted this decision and what went into his training to help him bulk up to being such a formidable heavyweight?

Bas Boon: We have talked a lot with Alistair about his lack of cardio in some fights when he fought in 205 lb class. He is a natural heavyweight, his weight then was around 102 kg (Alistair is 196cm) and he always had to loose about 10kg to make his weight, he would have problems later in the fight because Alistair’s aggressive fight style. We decided to move up in weight, from that moment on he fought Paul [Buentello] in Strikeforce 2007 for the belt (Alistair already defeated Belfort for the second time in a rematch in the states). He ko’d Paul in round two, then Alistair went through a difficult time in his private life which resulted in the loss against teammate Kharitonov, he did not have the good training before that fight as well his mental state was not good. We overcame that problem and the results are great, Alistair feels great, he does not gas anymore. Sparring in Breda with Zimmerman, Saki, Kharitonov, John Olav Einemo, he is improving by the day, his defence is getting better as well as his combinations and he can take a hell of a punch.

Boon also goes on in great detail about his business conflicts with Fedor Emelianenko's managers M-1 Global. If anything, the added details only muddy the waters. It sounds like Boon is backtracking a little bit from the way his earlier charges against them were presented in the online media. It's well worth a read. If anyone has the time to untangle the various back-and-forth and he-said-she-said I'd love to read it.

[*ChuteBoxe*]

Alistair vs. Kongo would be pretty crazy. Just though I would throw that in here for no reason.

[LMV]

That's actually the least interesting part of the interview. Read on and see the claims Bas makes about Fedor, M1, assassins.

Remember a few months ago I mentioned the involvement of organized crime and fight promotors. Well, just read the rest of the interview and what Bas has to say about that.

And here is where it gets really, really interesting  .............. just a few hours ago Vadim Finckelstein gave his reaction to the accusations. I'll post up the interview and Vadim's reaction later on.

[SinCitysmallGUY]

Michael David Smith lays out an interesting argument:

Overeem beat Peter Aerts at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 in Seoul, advancing to the Final 8 of the world's foremost kickboxing organization. Werdum won the heavyweight title at ADCC 2009, the biggest no-gi grappling competition in the world.

That doesn't mean much of anything for Overeem's or Werdum's rankings in the MMA heavyweight landscape, because kickboxing and grappling aren't MMA. But it does mean something for Strikeforce: It means that in addition to being able to say they have the best heavyweight fighter in MMA in Fedor Emelianenko, they can also credibly say they have the best heavyweight striker in MMA and the best heavyweight grappler in MMA.

And for those who were worried by Alistair Overeem's manager Bas Boon's remarks calling M-1 Global various names and implying that his client wouldn't be fighting for Strikeforce anytime soon, MMA Convert updates the story:

Alistair Overeem’s manager and Golden Glory head, Bas Boon, dropped a bomb on us a couple weeks ago when he called M-1 ‘a bunch of crooks’ and insinuated Alistair wouldn’t fight on any Strikeforce/M-1 Global co-promoted cards.

And the good news is Bas says all the bad blood between him and M-1 won’t get in the way of this fight happening as long as the money is agreed upon and guaranteed.

I will never take an opportunity from a fighter to fight Fedor especially if the money is right and guaranteed. But there is an old bill to settle, everybody knows the story:

Please understand that I will always support and agree with Alistair [Overeem] or any other Golden Glory fighters to fight against Fedor at any time any place…as long as the money is agreed upon and guaranteed. It does not matter if the fight takes place is in Russia, Holland, Japan, America or any other country.

This is very good news for Strikeforce and MMA fans. Sure I'd much rather be seeing Fedor vs Brock Lesnar next, but if Strikeforce can succeed in matching up Fedor with Rogers, Werdum and Overeem they will be providing a legitimate roster of opponents for MMA's #1 heavyweight.

[LMV]

Oh boy, you're not getting it. Give me 5 minutes and I'll post up the whole story.

[LMV]

Link to the interview Bas Boon had with K-1 Legend

Bas Boon of Golden Glory on Overeem, Fedor, K-1, M-1 and More! K-1 LEGEND

The interview itself

Bas Boon of Golden Glory on Overeem, Fedor, K-1, M-1 and More!


I had a chance to talk with one of Golden Glory’s fearless leaders, Bas Boon recently. Bas is a guy who has been around in the fight industry and managed some of the big names. Currently Golden Glory is on a roll and looks forward to an anniversary show as well as the K-1 World Grand Prix where Ruslan Karaev, Errol Zimmerman, Alistair Overeem and Semmy Schilt will compete.

There is some juicy stuff pertaining to Boon and Golden Glory’s former relations with M-1 Global figureheads Vadim Finkelstein and Apy Echteld. Some of it just sounds outlandish, but can be pieced together. If anything, this interview adds more texture to some of the tales of M-1 Global that have been circulating, although Bas says he would not prevent his fighters from working with them in the future.

K-1 LEGEND: You guys have been doing a great job and the success of Golden Glory shows that, as you’ve become one of the top, if not top, camp around for kickboxing, completely dominating the K-1 scene and making a serious impression the world of MMA. The K-1 World Grand Prix this year is half Golden Glory, what are you attributing this success to?


Bas Boon: The success comes from a great team spirit and the same management and trainers for ten years now, we will celebrate this anniversary with a huge event – Glory 12 on the 17th of October in Amsterdam (http://www.unitedglory.nl/). We went through a lot of difficulties this year, injuries, changing the location of Golden Glory Breda gym. We had to work really hard to get everything in place again. The team spirit in Korea was the best I have seen in my ten years with Golden Glory, we couldn’t loose!


K-1 LEGEND: Do you have any predictions for the Grand Prix, and are the fighters prepared to fight each other in the semi-finals or finals? In my personal view, I think we could see Semmy Schilt vs. Alistair Overeem in the finals, and no matter what that makes Golden Glory look strong.


Bas Boon: Yes of course the fighters are willing to face each other in the semi-finals/finals. Semmy vs. Alistair would be a great scenario, but its a tournament anything can happen, we could see Karaev vs. Errol in the finals, but more likely your suggestion. We plan to have a meeting on this subject and what we will do with coaching/ strategy, maybe we just sit in the audience and let them sort out who’s number one 1, they do the same everyday in the gym and now they have a chance to really prove who is best, the pride of being Golden Glory’s number 1.

K-1 LEGEND: What happened to Alistair vs. Mighty Mo at the Anniversary show and when will we hear Alistair’s opponent, if he is still on the show?

Bas Boon: Martijn de Jong is busy with the matchmaking. The opponent will be announced soon, its difficult now with Alistair destroying every one in his path.

I have been so busy with my partner in getting so many fighters fighting in one show. Golden Glory is expanding as well – we have a Golden Glory gym in Romania, England, three gyms in Holland and we are working on Scandinavia, Russia and LA.

K-1 LEGEND: Alistair Overeem has really come out into his own over the past year or so, with holding the Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship and becoming a real force in K-1, quickly becoming one of the top heavyweights. Has his focus shifted to kickboxing now due to his recent success and is the plan right now to tone down on MMA, or just to take fights as they come? I and a few others think Alistair could easily becoming an elite mainstay in K-1.

Bas Boon: Alistair is still an MMA fighter first and foremost but he plans to do both. It was the circumstances that influenced the decision for Alistair to fight Peter. After he knocked out Badr Hari on K-1 rules NYE 2008, he wanted to fight Badr on MMA rules, his team agreed to this, but Badr and his management decided against it later on. Alistair was pissed and so were we as we negotiated a new contract with strikeforce, the first opportunity would be April.

But on March 27th the offer came from K-1 to fight Remy, Alistair said after he knocked out Badr Hari that he wanted to fight the champ of K-1 which was remy Bonjansky. The fight happened and again Alistair did great, they could have given Remy an 8 count in round two were Alistair clearly knocks him down. We still looked at the scoring boards and round two was also given 10 10 10 score, we knew we could not win and decided to take a risk in round three which resulted in a knockdown for Alistair and that’s why he lost the decision, so they say!

However Alistair wanted to start fighting MMA again with his new contract with strikeforce and then Golden Glory hit a streak of bad luck.

(Note: The following is from Bas Boon himself, I’ve done some research and found a few other interviews he has done to try to confirm and iron out some of the facts. If you do not know the full history of Bas Boon and M-1 and Fedor, check this interview out. K-1 LEGEND takes no responsibility for the following outside of sharing it with you. I’ve inserted some notes to help clarify some of the tough translation issues or some past events.)

K-1 LEGEND: There was some misquoting of you recently in regards to Strikeforce, Fedor/Vadim and M-1. Is there any animosity between Golden Glory and Fedor’s camp at all? Is there a history with M-1 and Fedor or was this all just completely taken out of context?

Bas Boon: I posted an article on a Dutch forum, people were making excuses why Alistair was not fighting in the USA, believe me we really wanted this fight it would have been perfect in our schedule like we planned it for 2009, NYE Japan , March Japan, April/May or August Strikeforce and then back to Japan. Then the 50 ct incident came, some people were saying on the Dutch forum all kinds of excuses why Alistair would not come to the US. The reality was that Alistair ended up in the hospital after his brawl and in detention and had a very serious infection in his hand. On the forum in Holland people from M-1 were thrashing Alistair and telling how good M-1 was doing their business.

Then I made a comment on this saying that every organisation Fedor fought in went bad and  that Fedor was not fighting much and that Appy and Vadim still have unfinished business with the management of G.G., because they got Fedor through Golden Glory and we made a legal deal about this.

Then some clown (I imagine that it was somebody from the camp of Simon Rutz as Appy was caught on tape, hiring killers from Russia to blow away the whole European Fighting Network Office from Simon Rutz, which there is an official police report!) [I can't find this anywhere, sadly] translated the part what I said on his forum (out of context – why I said it, the thread on the forum says I made excuses for Alistair not fighting in the States) and then the person who made the translation made it look like I made an official statement. The translated piece went also to a forum called www.valetudo.ru

Then a chain reaction came, which caused Appy [Apy Echteld, member of M-1 management] to call me, he told me call Vadim becuase the Russians this and that!) you have to because big problems blah blah. I called Vadim and told him what happened, I told him, I would write him by mail: my version of the story and what still was bothering me. I did this, but then Vadim just translated a small part on his M-1 forum and the title on his article said Bas Boon made excuses to Vadim?

I wrote Vadim another mail telling him that I was disappointed and I really thought that because of this we could solve our old differences. I informed him that I would post the original letter on some forums. Today I got an email from a guy named Mikhail asking why I am posting this official letter and what kind of problems I have with Vadim.

I mailed Mikhail and wrote him that I send a mail before to Vadim and that Vadim did not respond to what I wrote and that I was disappointed to read a small translation with a huge title: that Bas Boon made his excuses to Vadim?

Everything in the letter is the truth, therefore I mailed a friend of mine in Russia to publish the official offer from K-1 to Fedor which was $150.000 more [$150,000 USD, Bas provided the K-1 offer which was a base of $600,000 USD per fight. This offer was extended to Boon and Co. for their previous management and links to Fedor at the Inoki show and was dated summer 2006, right before the PRIDE collapse and the BoDog offer. Fedor was on a spot contract with PRIDE at the time.] then Fedor was making at the time he fought with Pride. So why would a fighter who takes fight by fight (I suggested that) fight for $150.000 less money against Zulu in Pride, when there was an offer for almost 3 million on the table for 1 year The contract also included the option to fight in the states [there was a UFC clause, K-1 would offer Fedor to UFC for $1mil USD], he could have done both events as well as an FEG sponsor in the making.

I suspect that fedor was being used as leverage as I stopped doing business with Appy and Vadim delivering fighters and promoting and producing shows like 2h2h [2Hot2Handle] and M-1, it became a mess, two shows in Rotterdam resulted in a huge loss because there was no cooperation with G.G. Pride was putting the pressure on they had to help Appy and Vadim because if they would not pay them their money they would not get Fedor. What Appy and Vadim did not know at that time is that Pride was already dying as I started a law suite against Kawamata with loads of bad press appearing in Japanese newspapers, Gendai magazine etc.

The official offer was sent by Daisuke Terguchi and in name of Mr Tanigawa. I don’t think Fedor ever saw that offer, I received it through my office and I gave this offer to Appy and Vadim in Las Vegas. I told then lets all make money and this is a perfect opportunity to make back OUR losses the Bom Baye event, they all got paid, but I was left with more then 300.000 damage in unpaid flight and fight purses from (BOMBAYE 2003). [Bas lost out on $300,000 from the Bom BaYe incident that screwed everybody, but was a silent partner as to not upset PRIDE an turn them against other G.G. fighters]

I suggested to pay the Russians first as they just went from Pogodin to Red Devil and the relationship was fragile between Vadim and Fedor. A similar situation happened recently with UFC Joe Silva and Appy regarding Gerard Mushashi [Gegard Mousasi], Appy told Musashi he heard from some inside guy? (he does not have Joe or Dana’s phone number or contacts?) that an offer was made but it was to low according Appy? Later Joe Silva goes on record with his version of the story. [This goes along with the story that Apy and M-1 duped Mousasi into his Strikeforce contract. Joe Silva confirmed there was no offer]

It will be interesting what Fedor thinks after reading the truth.

K-1 LEGEND: Is Overeem vs. Fedor a possibility still? Fedor is seen as an unstoppable machine, but there are holes in his game like any other fighter. Does Overeem match up well with Fedor, you think?

Bas Boon: Yes, we will fight with Alistair against Fedor despite old pains with M-1 management, I would never take that away from a champ like Alistair Overeem, who really wants to fight Fedor!

K-1 LEGEND: Overeem’s move to heavyweight has seemed to really give his career a giant jump start, what prompted this decision and what went into his training to help him bulk up to being such a formidable heavyweight?

Bas Boon: We have talked a lot with Alistair about his lack of cardio in some fights when he fought in 205 lb class. He is a natural heavyweight, his weight then was around 102 kg (Alistair is 196cm) and he always had to loose about 10kg to make his weight, he would have problems later in the fight because Alistair’s aggressive fight style. We decided to move up in weight, from that moment on he fought Paul [Buentello] in Strikeforce 2007 for the belt (Alistair already defeated Belfort for the second time in a rematch in the states). He ko’d Paul in round two, then Alistair went through a difficult time in his private life which resulted in the loss against teammate Kharitonov, he did not have the good training before that fight as well his mental state was not good. We overcame that problem and the results are great, Alistair feels great, he does not gas anymore. Sparring in Breda with Zimmerman, Saki, Kharitonov, John Olav Einemo, he is improving by the day, his defence is getting better as well as his combinations and he can take a hell of a punch.

K-1 LEGEND: How is Gokhan Saki doing and when can we expect him to fight again? It was disappointing he couldn’t be a part of this year’s World Grand Prix and many believe he could be a big part in K-1’s future.

Bas Boon: Saki was unlucky first he had a bone splinter after his kO victory over Tyrone Spong in March this year and lost on points the heavyweight title to the Japanese fighter [KYOTARO/Keijiro Maeda]. Then we fought recently in Korea and Saki rips a muscle in the first minute of the fight, he still fights for three rounds but then because of the injury he could not be fit for the last 16 in Korea (he did qualify).

We will see him in a reserve fight on December 5th, we are going to Japan with a G.G. force!

K-1 LEGEND: What Golden Glory names should we watch out for in 2010 and what can we expect from Golden Glory in the future?

Bas Boon: John Olav Einemo (ADCC heavyweight champion and pride veteran) is doing really well working on his stand up and improving a lot. Nieky Holzken at K-1 max is developing as well as new comer in the team Karaev who is only 26 and improving by the day. There are some new young upcoming talents as well, which we will all be hearing from soon!


LMV, schooling amateur cut 'n paste wannabees !

[*ChuteBoxe*]

LMV, schooling amateur cut 'n paste wannabees !

This coming from the guy who rarely even reads the shit he cuts and pastes. 

[LMV]

This coming from the guy who rarely even reads the shit he cuts and pastes.  

Coming from the guy that was trying to reply to me yesterday when the thread was pulled right from under his ass  

[*ChuteBoxe*]

Coming from the guy that was trying to reply to me yesterday when the thread was pulled right from under his ass  

Any thread that your name appears more than 3 times in is subject to be trashed and that's nothing to brag about Blutopia. 

[LMV]

Any thread that your name appears more than 3 times in is subject to be trashed and that's nothing to brag about Blutopia. 

You're struggling Chute.

Face it, your idol fukked up big time in this thread, I'm just doing my best to give the audience the proper information.

[*ChuteBoxe*]

 I'm just doing my best to give the audience the proper information.

That's what we do in like 99% of the garbage that you steal.

[LMV]

That's what we do in like 99% of the garbage that you steal.

At least I "steal" from the proper source 

[LMV]

Yes lads, we got another one. By popular demand LMV delivers another scoop !

Oh boy it's like an early christmas for you guys.


I present to you Vadim Finckelstein's exclusive reaction to Bas Boon's interview 


(Vadim's replies in bold)

Bas Boon is as always in his style. But every reasonable person that has read this letter understands that Bas Boon is a dishonorable man because he always makes a mess and stirs up trouble (For example, the situation with PRIDE), he tries to have business everywhere, wants to make money of everything.
There is no single person in this world that would blame me for the dishonorableness towards my partners. If people try to cheat me I stop relations with these people because it means that they will do the same things in the future.
I don’t like to walk in the mud but Bas Boon has forced me to answer those attacks concerning the situations that took place 5 or 6 years ago.
Well, let’s start from the beginning.

Boon: “I never made an official statement about M-1, I did talk on the Dutch forum about my feelings towards M-1 and some forum guy made a translation (out of context) of a part of the post and put it on several foreign forums. Vadim, you know that I always have the best fighters for your shows, Darrel Gohlar, Fatih Kocamis, Chalid Arrab, Allistair Overeem, Paul Cahoon…”
Bas Boon really helped me in the beginning, it was my first experience and I needed advice. But those famous fighters he named back ten were just students, their fees were around $1000. Back then they were nothing special to speak of and Bas Boon was happy to put them in any event.

Boon: “I tried to help the first M-1 promotions/events in Russia, I helped with the Cage and matchmaking and lightning.”
But you forgot to mention that you didn’t do it free of charge. You got the broadcasting rights etc.

I did the first Cage Fight in Holland in Emmen in 1996.
That’s true. And after that tournament the cage was banned in the whole Europe…

I made a business deal regarding all M-1/Red Devil rights for bringing fighters and helping producing the shows.
Yes, I had that agreement with you in order provide my athletes with fights. And you got 10% of their fees when you found the fights for them.

I put Amar Suleov en Semenov in the UFC for a lot of money (at that time it was a lot of money).
You made this fight indeed, got 10% or it, but you forgot to tell about how you deducted money from their fees and told us that it was an American additional tax deduction. Then I found out from the Americans that there should be no taxes, the fees were paid netto. You put your hands into the guys’ pocket although you already got your 10%. It was the first issue and then I was planning to stop any business relations with you.


I introduced you to my long time business partner where you went with fighters to Brazil for fight events.
Perhaps you forgot at whose expense they would participate. The deal was that I provide the fighters and in return gain the television rights to broadcast those events in Russia.

I brought Appy to Japan on the cost of Golden Glory (I paid for that trip to Japan, hotels flights, everything as we were business partners in promoting fight events).
M-1 Global didn’t exist at that time and Apy didn’t work for it.

The only thing Appy ever did, he gave a business card of yours/red devil to Fedor on that trip to Japan.
He didn’t give any visit cards to Fedor. He just flew in the same airplane as Fedor and asked him if he wants to talk to me. Fedor said yes and gave his phone number. Anyway, at that time Fedor just started his career, world of MMA was very small in Russia, everybody knew each other and it wasn’t a big deal to find his phone number.


I can send you all the emails I have from you regarding my help in signing Fedor, as Fedor did not want to leave Pogodin, his manager. Finally, I sent you an e-mail regarding Fedor's title fight bonus $50.000 for the Pride title and that all fighters (I had a lot of contracts with GG fighters with Pride at that time Semmy, Heath Herring, Alistair, Valentijn....) they all got the same term in their contract with Pride , if they would fight for a belt and win they would make an extra $50.000.-. I was very smart sending an email to Pride and asking them if this term was for all fighters who fought for a belt, they said yes and I forwarded you this mail. I told you: ask what Fedor got for his title fight and you told me $4000.
Fedor understood that he was cheated. You just helped us expose deception of Pogodin, but you didn’t do it for free. You wanted to make money off Fedor. This deception would be disclosed sooner of later anyway.

You wanted a better contract for Fedor and I made sure Fedor got almost 4 times more money than before fighting with Pride. Fedor went from $30.000 to $115000 - for four fights. And I got his brother a contract as well and Amar Suloev. You, Apy and myself agreed: that I would be on the management contract of Fedor, but I put Mijatovic as I could not be mentioned on this management agreement. At that time I would get serious problems with Pride. If they know I brought their champion to their enemy, you can imagine it would hurt my business relationship with them. You guys agreed with this and understood the situation. Mijatovic would act on my behalf and everybody agreed! Further more - I had the Japanese people to fly to St Petersburg including myself. I had problems with Stefan and Semmy with K-1 and could not afford more problems with Pride.
At that time Fedor had already made his decision to work with me as his manager. He had two more fights for PRIDE. I looked through the contract signed by Fedor and found out that he was free to move to another organization as there was no exclusivity clause. And I sent you a copy of the contract. After that you came to Saint-Petersburg to sign a deal with Inoki Bom Baye, you took Miro and that Japanese guy representing Inoki Bom Baye. You were involved in co-promotion of this show as you wanted to make money of everything, that’s why you made Miro represent you and hid behind his back. In case of problems Miro would be left with problems, not you. We worked off that New Year’s Eve, we got out fee. The rest was your own problem with Japanese organizers that wasn’t our business.

Now, you also know that Cro Cop was paid to not fight on NYE at the Bom Baye show (Pride arranged this, he was paid to get injured) and that this was the reason for me trying to save the show by getting Fedor to fight - even with an injured hand. I arranged a pro wrestler for him to fight for almost 4 times more money than he ever made with Pride! The contract was also for 4 fights
You were one of the event organizers, it was your own risk.

We were unlucky with the "war" in Japan as all three promotions/ companies K-1, Pride and Bom Baye were doing a New Years Eve show at the same time (this never happened before). Behind the scenes in Kobe that 2003 NYE fight night, I had many yakuza threats as well as Miro Mijatovic. Finally the yakuza was pressing Kawamata (the promoter) to pay 1 million for Fedor to Pride and another million to the Yakuza (I guess his Pride went up again). The result was that the promoter Kawamata left Japan and took whatever money he could get with him.
Looks like a gang movie. I’ve never heard the names you mentioned. Probably you simply messed up since you wanted to get money everywhere from everyone. I was far from these cobwebs. I was Fedor’s manager and acted according to the contracts signed.


There was some cash money and I told Miro to pay you guys with this cash money as I would wait for the wire transfer, which never came. Till today I lost more the $300.000 with this shit. I then made a deal with Miro that all money made from Fedor should be paid to me, as I needed my payment for my fighters which I
advanced. In the beginning I wanted to share my money with him as he spoke Japanese and was a good lawyer, but I knew him as long as you guys did, I met him in St Petersburg!
You were one of the organizers. So why would you blame the fighter? We got our money for the work and the rest was not our business.



Mijatovic who was still managing Cro Cop maybe used his new status as co-manager from Fedor to still get his old money from Pride as long as the contract from Mirko was valid - I do not know this for sure, it is just speculation.
How could Miatovich being Crocop’s manger agree with this if he was your partner at that time? This is a very, very intricate storyline.

I only know that the money I did receive came by bank and was never more then $7666.60. As he also was
the manger of Stefan and Semmy etc at that time I made a deal with him, I told him he could make percentages, as long as the fighters kept fighting and he would pay me the money back from NYE 2003! All this money came by bank transfer. Everything went well till NYE 2004, when the contract ended with Pride with Fedor, Pride made offers for Pride to Miro and he forwarded this to me - I discussed this with you and Appy (I have all those e'mails and proposals on file)! We told Sakikabara we would take fight by fight and not sign a long term deal, he even tried to bribe us (I have that in writing too), but we said no! Then Sakakibara started to throw the mud, he came with bullshit bank wires, or not? I do not know, I only know that the money I received from Miro at that time was about $30.000 plus some money for my other fighters till November 2004. At that time he still owed me $300.000 for flights from Fedor, Amar - my fighters (ours)
you, me, Appy etc, I advanced everything, including the fight money for my fighters.
Bas, you’ve made it so complicated that it’s getting more and more difficult to understand. Miro was Crocop’s manager. PRIDE paid Crocop to not fight. Very strange things. I don’t understand this detective line. Miro had 15% off Fedor’s fight. You know that after the night Fedor fought at the Inoki event, some Japanese from PRIDE came along. I don’t know if they were Yakuza, but took Miro to the meeting. They showed me the contract for two more fights in PRIDE. I showed them another contract that Fedor personally had. And it turned out that we acted according to the contract since the contract that Fedor had was absolutely different than theirs. Their contract was signed by Pogodin. The guy from PRIDE understood that it was a deception, not from Fedor’s side, but a deception of his former manager. And I signed a new agreement for three fights in PRIDE. And it was agreed by Miro and you, as you were hiding behind his back. It was clearly written in that contract that your commission was 15% of Fedor’s fee.
Bas, your problems with Japanese were your own problems. You wanted to make money but something went wrong. What does a fighter have to do with it? I don’t understand it. It’s your business with the Japanese.

Then when I wanted to get money on NYE 2004 for the Fedor vs Nogeira fight, Appy starts screaming at me, you did this and that, and I did not understand what he was screaming about, I told him "Appy lets stick
together we got all these champions and all of this amazing opportunities ahead of us". All the while Sakakibara is trying to fuck things up because we did not sign a long term agreement with Fedor. I told him remember when Pride showed a contract where they said Fedor signed this, but Fedor said I never signed nothing (this was a few days before the NYE Bom Baye Show). Pride made a press conference about this! At that time Appy and your self called Pride liars and gangsters and it was not true, why would they tell
the truth now? On all bank statements it did not said for who the money transfer was for, at least not what Mijatovic showed me! Now the funny thing is that Mijatovic dissapeared and he still owes me a lot of
money, all the Russians were paid and you made money all year 2004, with all the work I did, I made it possible for Fedor, Aleksander and Amar to fight in Bom Baye and Pride. (And I'm called the asshole?)

And if you are so honest and decent person could you please explain the following:
After Inoki Bom Baye we signed a contract with PRIDE for 3 fights. We worked off those fights and paid you and Miro your fees. But after that Sakikabara told me that you got additional 15% from PRIDE. How come? And thereafter when I found out that you cheated me one more time, I broke up any relations with you.

In the first place I was doing the management for Fedor together with you and Apy, but I did all the work! I got the deal, I got a proposal, I paid your fighters and flights and everything so all the fighters including the
Russians were happy and stayed with red devil. Why did my payments stop? We agreed 1/3 of the percentage would go to me (it should be half as I was doing all the work but I agreed , so no complains there)! Mijatovic owes me money, Bom Bay owes me money and I did all the work, I took a huge risk by bringing everybody and what did you guys get? The best fighter of all time, he got paid his highest fight purse at that time, so did his brother Aleksander and Amar. You made money from the beginning. And the guy who made everything possible got shit, $300.000.- and is being accused of all kinds of bullshit! I was in Sakakibara's office threatened with the big yakuza boss Mr Kim (some Korean yakuza) by Sakakibara, Hideki and Yukino were witnesses of all this, I was there with Mijatovic at that time, they wanted us to sign the
agreement with Fedor for two years! I told Sakakibara later it was his fault, because he sent yakuza after us, the promoter Kawamata from Bom Baye left the country and I did not got paid - a huge loss for me because
Sakakibara using yakuza. At the end Yakuza Mr Kim flee the country to Korea, Sakakibara was very smart selling his dead company footage to the UFC!! And Vadim and Appy got Fedor and did if Bas Boon did not exist anymore? Bas Boon was left with $300.000.- bills from flights, hotels and fighters who were not paid and Bas Boon had to pay this out of his own pocket. This is what really happened and I have the documents and mails to prove this.
Bas, seems like everybody owes you.
But I think that readers understand what kind of person you are, that your primary business is a fraud, you tried to make money of everything. You indeed did help me in the beginning: you provided me with several athletes and paid them, but you forget to mention that you got all the rights for the shows which I made while losing money, from 50k to 200k US$ on each show. And you were selling the video rights all over the world although we had an agreement to share all the profit from the rights on 50/50 basis. The series of events “Russia vs World” and others were sold all over the Globe.
I found my tapes in Free Record Shop which is the biggest media shop in the Netherlands. And they are still on sale there. You even managed to sell my proprietary rights to “Boets”, a Russian Martial Arts channel and make money on it. You can’t deny it. And although we agreed to share all the profit 50/50 I have never had a cent off it.
I don’t understand why you write this detective story and post it on internet 5 years later after the events had occurred. What is the meaning of it? I will never work with you anymore, you had two chances but you tried to cheat on both occasions. I simply don’t work with such people. Everything you did for Fedor, you did for your personal profit.
Every reasonable person can understand that you are inadequate and your quotation that “Fedor's management are crooks” should be addressed to yourself.
Bas Boon embodies gossip epitome. Watch his next dirty answer. To understand what person he is, simply find anyone who speaks Dutch and check his multiple posts at the mixfight.nl forum.
Anyone who’s sane would conclude from the last Boon interview that he’s just a crook trying to make money off everyone he every touched. Just read his “depiction” of the aforementioned situation. Oh yeah, he was managing things here and there. He was even a secret manager, Miro worked on his behalf since Bas was afraid to ruin his relations with the partners, thus scheming behind Pride’s back. All he did was to make a profit out of other’s work.
Don’t expect me to react on his so-called attacks, I’m not going to boost his personality up.



LMV, insider information on demand !

[LMV]

This shit is getting better and better. Bas Boon replies to Vadim's replies. 


VADIM: Bas Boon is as always in his style. But every reasonable person that has read this letter understands that Bas Boon is a dishonorable man because he always makes a mess and stirs up trouble (For example, the situation with PRIDE), he tries to have business everywhere, wants to make money of everything.
There is no single person in this world that would blame me for the dishonorableness towards my partners. If people try to cheat me I stop relations with these people because it means that they will do the same things in the future.
I don’t like to walk in the mud but Bas Boon has forced me to answer those attacks concerning the situations that took place 5 or 6 years ago.
Well, let’s start from the beginning.

BAS BOON:What is wrong, in having businesses every where. I enjoy challenging myself in different areas of business, writing, movies ect. I have not attacked you I have only stated the truth, yes it was a few years ago but none the less the truth should be known. At that time there was not a forum like Valetudo.ru - Бои без правил or a way to inform the media in Russia of what was going on , now with this in the media in Russia you feel obliged to respond – Do you feel you are being attacked and why?
Boon: “I never made an official statement about M-1, I did talk on the Dutch forum about my feelings towards M-1 and some forum guy made a translation (out of context) of a part of the post and put it on several foreign forums. Vadim, you know that I always have the best fighters for your shows, Darrel Gohlar, Fatih Kocamis, Chalid Arrab, Allistair Overeem, Paul Cahoon…”

VADIM:Bas Boon really helped me in the beginning, it was my first experience and I needed advice. But those famous fighters he named back ten were just students, their fees were around $1000. Back then they were nothing special to speak of and Bas Boon was happy to put them in any event.

BAS BOON: Some of the fighters were not so famous back then I could see their potential. ( Fatih Kocamis and Chalid Arrab became M1 European and world Champions, just to name a few) All of the fight purses, the production and flights were paid by me, so we are talking about a lot more money than a couple thousand dollars. Boon: “I tried to help the first M-1 promotions/events in Russia, I helped with the Cage and matchmaking and lightning.”

VADIM: But you forgot to mention that you didn’t do it free of charge. You got the broadcasting rights etc.

BAS BOON:I spend a lot of money per event and made a business deal, what’s wrong in getting the broadcast rights? You saved money on flights, fight purses and production (I made that deal with your partner Appy, that I also would cover the flights, they were charged on my credit card) and M1 did not have to pay for some fighters, production (or very little), later I found out Appy Echteld received money from you for flights) I did not know at the time of paying for the flights that later Appy would go and ask you for flight money that had been paid already.

I did the first Cage Fight in Holland in Emmen in 1996.

VADIM: That’s true. And after that tournament the cage was banned in the whole Europe…

BAS BOON: Yes, politics, what can I say, wrong moment in time! In the beginning the UFC was only in two states, times change!

I made a business deal regarding all M-1/Red Devil rights for bringing in fighters and helping producing the shows.

VADIM: Yes, I had that agreement with you in order provide my athletes with fights. And you got 10% of their fees when you found the fights for them.

BAS BOON:That’s called a business deal

VADIM: I put Amar Suleov en Semenov in the UFC for a lot of money (at that time it was a lot of money).
You made this fight indeed, got 10% or it, but you forgot to tell about how you deducted money from their fees and told us that it was an American additional tax deduction. Then I found out from the Americans that there should be no taxes, the fees were paid netto. You put your hands into the guys’ pocket although you already got your 10%. It was the first issue and then I was planning to stop any business relations with you.


BAS BOON: So very not true. If you do your research you will know that every fighter has to pay tax in the USA or in his own country (if this is not done by the promoter, it is illegal by the promoter and when it is legal, the foreign fighter has to pay a lot more tax in their own country, depending on the treatment countries have, for example Japan they pay the promoter pays the withholding tax on top of the fight purse), the fighters get a check (not cash as the early pride days) and they have to pay the money to the manager, there normally was no cash involved. I have told Appy that I had a way with my company to get 20% of this tax back, if we could receive the money in cash (which was done as a favour). I told him we could divide this fifty fifty. This was completely legit and would be shown to all parties with the paperwork and the tax, Appy did nothing just received half. I have divided this money with Appy and nobody was hurt because of this.
In my understanding Appy told this to you Mr Vadim and shared this to you as a partner and to the fighters (I do not speak Russian so I don’t know) the fighters had to pay the tax money regardless.
It so happens that I have a witness Mr Marc de Weerd and yourself came with this story with Appy to my office. Then I explained that I shared this money with your partner Appy. He then came with a strange story that he still had to pay a lot of cost from the last show, like flight tickets and crap and that he used the money for that?
Strangely enough you believed your partner and we kept working together. So again if you make an accusation, tell the whole story! My story makes a lot of sense even without the witness, why would you continue to work with me, if I am not speaking the truth? For me the biggest riddle is that you kept/keep working with Appy, after this shit came out! Appy has hidden travel expenses not mentioned to you? Then Appy is mentioned getting caught on tape (with threats where Russians are named), but you still work with him? Then Appy gets a strange UFC offer for Gerard Mushashi, which Joe Silva said never happened, but you still work with him?
Does Appy have a secret tape of you with some important scandal hanging above your head, every time he makes a “mistake” you seem quite forgiving?

I introduced you to my long time business partner where you went with fighters to Brazil for fight events.

end of part 1

[LMV]

part 2

VADIM:Perhaps you forgot at whose expense they would participate. The deal was that I provide the fighters and in return gain the television rights to broadcast those events in Russia.
BAS BOON:It does not matter what the deal was, I was not there ( I was not part of that business deal. I introduced you to someone. The rest was up to you to work a deal to your liking/everybody’s liking), I just wrote that I introduced you to my business partner, which I did!

I brought Appy to Japan on the cost of Golden Glory (golden Glory paid for that trip to Japan, hotels flights, everything as we were business partners in promoting fight events).

VADIM:M-1 Global didn’t exist at that time and Apy didn’t work for it.
BAS BOON:M-1 ,later the word Global was edited, I even have a contract where it is said we agreed we always would divide our earnings from the work of Golden Glory for Appy/Vadim. It is described like this: M-1, 2h2h, To cold To hold or whatever name not mentioned or will be invented, that’s what mentioned in the contract signed by Appy and Vadim. Check your paperwork (the name Global was added later ) and Appy and you were partners, I have a written contract to prove that, I already produced the official K-1 offer from FEG and I will produce this agreement as well, signed by the both of you!

The only thing Appy ever did, he gave a business card of yours/red devil to Fedor on that trip to Japan.

VADIM:He didn’t give any visit cards to Fedor. He just flew in the same airplane as Fedor and asked him if he wants to talk to me. Fedor said yes and gave his phone number. Anyway, at that time Fedor just started his career, world of MMA was very small in Russia, everybody knew each other and it wasn’t a big deal to find his phone number.

BAS BOON:Appy’s story is different, he told me he gave your business card to Fedor in the locker room backstage of the event in Japan. I do not recall Fedor being in the plane on our way back from Japan to Holland, I was in the same plane! And I was the one who told Appy and you that Fedor was the best fighter on the planet, I already talked about how good Fedor was with Monty Cox (who told me how amazing Fedor was when he fought at Rings Japan) long before you ever heard of Fedor. I even talked with Pogodin about a movie and an instructional series with Fedor before all the problems started and before we took over his management. So, the champion of Pride was not known? Our deal was worldwide and Japan is a bigger market, I took the champion with the belt from Pride with an existing contract and put him in a rival show! I explained to you and Appy that there were obvious problems with this situation (do you think Sakakibara liked the fact that just after making sure Mirko Cro Cop would not fight the main event, that I took his champion away as a replacement) Now you say they were not your problems?


BAS BOON:I can send you all the emails I have from you regarding my help in signing Fedor, as Fedor did not want to leave Pogodin, his manager. Finally, I sent you an e-mail regarding Fedor's title fight bonus $50.000 for the Pride title and that all fighters (I had a lot of contracts with GG fighters with Pride at that time Semmy, Heath Herring, Alistair, Valentijn....) they all got the same term in their contract with Pride , if they would fight for a belt and win they would make an extra $50.000.-. I was very smart sending an email to Pride and asking them if this term was for all fighters who fought for a belt, they said yes and I forwarded you this mail. I told you: ask what Fedor got for his title fight and you told me $4000.

VADIM:Fedor understood that he was cheated. You just helped us expose deception of Pogodin, but you didn’t do it for free. You wanted to make money off Fedor. This deception would be disclosed sooner of later anyway.
We had a contract over a period of 5 years plus, I know when I help people advance in the industry, this could come back at you in a bad way (I had those experiences in the past) people forget what you do for them especially when large amounts of money are involved. They forget they have to share when the money becomes serious, yes I wanted to get paid for my services, we signed a business deal. I just helped him to get exposure??? Like that is not a big deal?

BAS BOON:We were all partners, what do business partners do, they make money Vadim, do you sell your meat for free or give this to charity?

You wanted a better contract for Fedor and I made sure Fedor got almost four times more money than before when fighting with Pride. Fedor went from $30.000 to $115000 - for four fights. And I got his brother a contract as well and Amar Suloev. You, Apy and myself agreed: that I would be on the management contract of Fedor, but I put Mijatovic as I could not be mentioned on this management agreement. At that time I would get serious problems with Pride. If they knew I brought their champion to their enemy, you can imagine it would hurt my business relationship with them. You guys agreed with this and understood the situation. Mijatovic would act on my behalf and everybody agreed! Further more - I had the Japanese people to fly to St Petersburg including myself. I had problems with Stefan and Semmy with K-1 and could not afford more problems with Pride.

VADIM:At that time Fedor had already made his decision to work with me as his manager. He had two more fights for PRIDE. I looked through the contract signed by Fedor and found out that he was free to move to another organization as there was no exclusivity clause. And I sent you a copy of the contract. After that you came to Saint-Petersburg to sign a deal with Inoki Bom Baye, you took Miro and that Japanese guy representing Inoki Bom Baye. You were involved in co-promotion of this show as you wanted to make money of everything, that’s why you made Miro represent you and hid behind his back. In case of problems Miro would be left with problems, not you. We worked off that New Year’s Eve, we got out fee. The rest was your own problem with Japanese organizers that wasn’t our business.

BAS BOON:You seem to forget that we had a business agreement that all your fighters Golden Glory would receive money and we would manage together that we were your business partners, I do not speak Russian, so I do not know what you told Fedor (you should have told him the truth, that we were all working together, Golden Glory was a huge name then and still is, it was also for Fedor an advantage to know that serious and experienced people would be doing his management). That’s what business partners do. You decided that when I finally did all the work and Fedor wanted to sign an agreement (which I also provided), it was you doing the business with Fedor, not us??

First of all Miro did not represent me at that time, I made a written contract signed by you and Appy not Miro.
I was not the promoter of Bombaye, Miro acted as a representative from Kawamata (the promoter) Miro was still managing Cro Cop. At that time he was not even mentioned as manager it was an idea we had. This was done later when all the yakuza shit happened in Kobe Japan. The man Miro who moved his family out of Japan because of serious yakuza problems, because I exposed Fedor whom was cheated and came with Miro with a proposal with almost 4 x more money)? The man who I ask: pay the Russians first as the relationship between Fedor and Red Devil is just three weeks old? The man who still has to pay me money, not to mention $300.000K from Kawamata? Try to find the tapes or broadcasting and see if I am mentioned as a co-producer? I wanted to be co-producer, but never got that title, I got a “nice” unpaid bill of $300.000.-. Business partners should also share losses and solve problems together, if something goes wrong, but then your mentality is that you do not have nothing to do with this?
Miro (on behalf of the promoter Kawamata) paid me $50.000 the day after the fight and another $60.000 a few months later out of his own pocket!
You and Appy were my partners, it was our business, but you were the one who did not get the headache and did not want the headache. Then you would say your Dutch language is no so good, or your English is not so good!

[LMV]

part 3 last part

Vadim, you bring yourself in a whole lot of troubles, the contract of Fedor was valid till October or November 2004 from Pride (I have the original new contract and the mails were Pride goes off about this). I was the one who found a loophole in the contract as the fighter Fedor never signed the contract (the contract was many pages in English and your English is not that good, remember), but Pogodin signed the contract. Therefore the contract was invalid (Fedor did not sign himself directly with Pride), later Pride made an official statement (sure to find on the internet) waving a fake contract for TV and the internet stating they had a signed contract with Fedor (forging Fedor’s signature). You yourself and Appy called Pride liars (when Sakikibara was waving for TV his contract with Fedor where Sakakibara told the press Fedor signed this himself) and I explained to you this is the way some of these people work.

Miro called me from Japan (who I knew briefly as Cro Cop’s manager) he knew I was having problems with K-1 at the end of 2003 (Semmy and Stefan were out of the GP because of contract problems) Miro also knew that Pride did not respect my contracts with them as soon Pride found out I had beef with K-1. Miro came with the proposal for Bombaye and we all benefited from this, when later the problems came it was agreed he would do the business in Japan as a manager (not a producer) between you and Miro. Yes Miro paid me the money he received for those services to me, to pay me back for the lost of the Bombaye show, it was all done by bank transfer and there was nothing out of the ordinary.

What you did was the other way around, you tried to use Miro to break free from a valid signed contract you had with me. Reading the above you would never of had Fedor, if it was not for my work. Instead of feeling sorry for Miro, you accused him and me (people loosing a big amount of money to get you where you are today). Miro spoke perfect Japanese and English and was a good lawyer, he was the best contact you could of have. He got screwed with Mirko Cro Cop himself by Pride and I am sure he used Fedor as leverage to get his payments they still owed him (like you guys did “because of your huge loss in the Ahoy promotion” when Fedor fought for $150.000 less in a Pride show , when there was a much bigger offer from K-1 on the table, I produced proof of this). I don’t blame Miro for leaving the country with his family or turning his back to the fight industry, the guy went through hell!

When on Nye 2004 Sakakibara start telling lies because we did not want to sign a long term deal, you and Appy accusing everybody of betrayal without investigating/ researching the situation. You used the person Sakakibara from Pride (who you and Appy both called lairs, when Sakakibara was waving with his so called signed contract were he forged the signature of fedor) to break away from Miro, but the person who did everything for you and had a written agreement with you, you put in the same category?

The only reason why you are “forced” to come with a reply, is that the truth is coming out, because other Russian translators are translating exactly what is written and how thing went.
A good example is the mail I sent you explaining my side of the story. I sent this mail privately, but instead of answering me privately. This didn’t have to be made public – this was your choice!! You put a small translation on your M-1 site, with the head lines, that I made excuses to you???
This is why you have to urge to reply.
Let’s see how Fedor feels if he knows that he played Santa Claus and fought for $150.000 less (because you guys used Fedor as a leverage to have Pride pay your bills for the losses of the disaster show in Ahoy Rotterdam Holland)


LMV, delivering the news you weren't supposed to know !

[Mrdibbs]

typical Dutch move to bad talk and tell fairytale story's a while after business has taken place. Boon has been outsmarted by the Russians and has become very bitter due to that outcome.

[LMV]

typical Dutch move to bad talk and tell fairytale story's a while after business has taken place. Boon has been outsmarted by the Russians and has become very bitter due to that outcome.

Bas Boon can back up a lot of his claims.

I'm following the discussion as it is unfolding on another board, straight from the source itself. Although Bas Boon is an arrogant prick he does have some valid points, a lot actually.

This story has it all actually, business between M-1, K1, Pride, UFC, yakuza, russian mob, hired killers. Getbig approved