Ex-World Champion, and Russian citizen Roy Jones Jr. has thrown his ‘hat in the ring’ in trying to facilitate the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner.
Griner was arrested in February under allegations she had cartridges containing hash oil while trying to enter Moscow. Her pre-trial detentions have been repeatedly postponed and to date she has still not been allowed to post bail.
According to the U.S. government she is being detained illegally. U.S. officials have claimed she is being used as a political pawn.
Enter Roy Jones Jr. - the ex-boxing champ, who became a Russian citizen in 2015, has become a businessman, opening many boxing schools in the country, and has even met Vladimir Putin on several occasions.
In an interview with TMZ Sports, Jones stated he’s working through his contacts to reach Russian government officials in helping the WNBA star.
“I had a friend, a couple of my friends that I knew, I called and I asked him ‘Is there any way we can try to facilitate?’ because I don’t do politics. I’m a sports figure and they love me as a sports figure. ‘Is there any way we can use my sports influence to possibly can get anything arranged to help get Brittney home?’ My friend called and he called me back and he said, ‘Yes, they said they’d be willing to do a prisoner exchange.’”
Jones further expressed he wanted to help because he would want someone to do the same for his family.
“Would I put my life on the line, take a chance to go to Russia to exchange prisoners? Yes, I would.
“Because if Brittney was my daughter, I would want somebody to do the same thing for me.”
Here is the link to the TMZ interview.
KEEP READING
Últimas Noticias
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
