(NOV 30) WBAN has received word from
Valerie Mahfood, of Texas that she will not be on the Africa card,
December 2nd. This is not the only problem WBAN has been
hearing about with this card. More on that later...
Mahfood told WBAN, "I will not be
fighting on the show in Africa on December 2, 2006. The promoter, or
at least the man I've been speaking with, was not able to schedule a
flight for both me and my corner person. He did manage to get my
itinerary to me on Tuesday, the day before I was to fly out. When I
asked about my corner's schedule, he said he had already purchased
the ticket and had sent it to me. He said he would resend it and I
waited for a few hours. I then called the airline reservation desk.
Eventually, the man told me that my corner's itinerary had been
researched, but never purchased. By that time, the schedule had
expired. Nonetheless, additional seats were still available on the
plane and could be purchased for around $2,400 USD."
"I
sent some e-mails to the promoter asking for the other ticket. My
corner sent a few e-mails. No luck. We gave him as much time as
possible to respond, but he never did. Three hours before I was to
leave for the airport, we called off the wait. It simply was not
feasible to think I would travel half-way around the world to fight
for a world title without having a corner person. I hate that
I'm not going. I was really looking forward to the fight. You know,
my motto is: "Have passport. Will travel." But, as the years go by,
I'm learning to work with the things that are in my control and
accept the things I can not change. I could not control the
fact that he would only purchase one ticket. I could, however,
control my actions. I called the reservation desk again and canceled
my ticket. They agreed to refund him all but a $200 service fee. I
thought that wasn't too bad considering the amount of notice I was
giving the airline. I like to think the best of people.
So, in my mind, I have rationalized the entire incident. I'm not
angry, though having spent hundreds of dollars for phone calls and
immunization shots, I probably have a right to be. I wish the girls
who have already made it over there the best of luck. And, I wish
the promoter a successful turn-out."
