OVILL McKENZIE will not be challenging Tony Bellew for the vacant Commonwealth light-heavyweight title next month, despite reports claiming that the fight is on.
Instead, the Derby knockout artist who gets a British passport later this month is targeting winning the Lonsdale belt later this year.
McKenzie (18-9) proved he is of boxing’s most concussive punchers on Friday stopping Billy Boyle in Nottingham inside a round.
McKenzie, 30, will now have his next fight on April 23 on the undercard of Rendall Munroe’s WBC super-bantamweight title final eliminator against Victor Terrazas.
Promoter Frank Maloney: “With the right fights, Ovill can become a big attraction in Midlands and get attention all over Britain.
“Ovill is starting to shift tickets and his popularity is growing all the time. With the right fights he can become star.
“He has been offered a fight with Bellew in March, but it isn’t happening. Ovill is after the British title.”
Bellew was ringside for McKenzie’s triumph against Boyle and his behaviour angered the Prizefighter cruiserweight winner and his team.
Maloney added: “Bellew was out of order with his aggressive cut throat gestures and should know better than to behave like that towards another professional.
“Ovill should have been enjoying his moment of glory, but had to put up with the sort of behaviour seen in American gangster films.
“What has Ovill done wrong to upset Bellew in the past?
“His antics has made sure the fight doesn’t happen for now. I hope Bellew can dwell on the incident now and realise he was wrong.”
More details of Maloney’s mega St George’s Day show on April 23 will be announced next week
Commentary: Immigration and Naturalization Service underfunded and overtasked by Congress and special interest groups
NPR Morning Edition March 20, 2002 | BOB EDWARDS 00-00-0000 Commentary: Immigration and Naturalization Service underfunded and overtasked by Congress and special interest groups Host: BOB EDWARDS Time: 11:00 AM-12:00 Noon BOB EDWARDS, host:
Commentator Jan Ting is a former assistant commissioner at the Immigration and Naturalization Service. He says the INS is an easy political target.
JAN TING:
Politicians of both parties have echoed President Bush in bemoaning the INS’ failure of this magnitude, but what exactly was the magnitude of this particular INS error compared to, say, the intelligence failure which allowed the September 11th attacks to happen? And it wasn’t the INS that issued visas allowing the hijackers to enter the US in the first place. Unlike those failures, the INS’ six-month delay in mailing its status-change confirmation harmed no one, except the agency itself. site immigration and naturalization
This is an agency that is constantly underfunded and overtasked by Congress. Perhaps it’s because Congress is under political pressure. The travel industry opposes any enforcement of immigration laws that threatens its cash flow. Airlines, hotels, restaurants and theme parks want the government to keep issuing tourist visas quickly, without hassling applicants. Even now, the travel industry defends the Visa Waiver Program it persuaded Congress to enact in 1986. That’s the program that let European passport holders Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker, and Richard Reid, the alleged shoe bomber, board airplanes bound for the US without having to apply for a US visa. web site immigration and naturalization
In 1996, universities, trade and vocational schools prevented the implementation of a law that called for monitoring student visa-holders. Congress caved in. So now no penalty can be imposed on the Florida flight school that completed flight training for two of the September 11th hijackers, even though the school hadn’t received notification from INS of their student status.
INS is a troubled, demoralized agency. Its problems are not going to be fixed by changing the lines on an organizational chart. It’ s time for Congress and the executive branch to make immigration law enforcement a national security priority. They need to repeal the Visa Waiver Program and resume requiring visas of foreigners before they board US-bound airplanes. US consular officers must take their time reviewing visa applications, and they must reject any about which they have the slightest uncertainty. Colleges and trade schools that fail to monitor foreign students must lose the right to enroll them and collect their tuition.
Congress has to stop burdening the INS with complicated, politically motivated, new amnesty programs. Only then, with additional funding for personnel and recruitment, can INS’ fundamental problems be addressed.
EDWARDS: The comments of Jan Ting, a professor at Temple University’ s Beasley School of Law.
