Correct as I already stated..I was there, Mitchell V Stewart on the undercard of Hatton pinto that ended up pederson. So you are incorrect there, hwe had already fought pedersen by this time who was i hasten to add a replacement for pinto (who witter turned down) who also at the time was tipped for greater things off the back of his victory over cotto in the ams and koing 19 out of 21 fighters,
Vilches ended up the scheduled fight below.
I lved and breathed all this stuff for 18 months mate so do know my onions on this.
Im sure those negotiations did take place as I said the double header went to press conference as I reported it.
So it must have been an almost done deal, the fact of the matter is though that Mitchell fought Zoo for the title one month after hatton fought stewart so he took another route.
Not hatton ducking mitchell. The fight just didnt come off.
article below from BBN from the press conference in baker street by me. ;;-)
Sky Sports and Sports Network invited BBN to attend a press conference to announce the summer super-show involving two of Britain's most exciting and well established boxing stars.
Mr Warren flanked by the aforesaid boxers and their respective fathers (he raised a chuckle when referring to it as Dad's day out in London) Enzo (Calzaghe) and Ray (Hatton).
Firstly, Frank was pleased to confirm that Joe Calzaghe will be challenging Glencoffe Johnson for his IBF title and also that Ricky will be fighting as yet unnamed top ten fighter. (Expect a further announcement of opponent on Monday.)
With the formal announcements made the floor was opened to questions of which I shall summarise below:
Mr Warren fielded many questions some of them not necessarily comfortable ones, on the recent Pinto debacle, he firmly stated that this is one of the reasons he wants to put Joe and Richard (as he calls the Hitman) on the same bill at the MEN.
“This is the most expensive show I have ever put on outside the heavyweights and I am doing it to give something back to the fans, the boxing public. ”
He went on to confirm that Showtime had vetoed Michael Stewart as a replacement for Pinto. Further adding that Gary Shaw was talking complete and utter rubbish regarding a future match up with Hatton, publicly stating that Mitchell and his team were requesting 40% more than the negotiations for when he was being touted to fight Kostya Tszyu in Russia. Being pushed for a figure Frank replied, “About a million with expenses for his nine strong entourage and with all due respect Sharmba Mitchell is not a million pound fighter. If they wanted the fight why didn't they put some money up or propose some realistic financial demands?”
If fact, this is totally justified and fair comment.
He further stated that he didn't think his charge would have any problems with the 33-year-old should they meet, reckoning him to be open to “right hands all night, I mean you can't miss with a right hand with him.”
Once pressed Ricky stated that he was disappointed not to firstly face Pinto and then that the proposed Mitchell bout has fallen through, at least for the time being.
While not willing to pontificate on his June 5th opponent he did say that he would love to meet Arturo Gatti in a career defining battle and that “We would have a right rumble!”
Too true Ricky too true; let's hope that can happen.
On to Joe Calzaghe, looking lean and laid back as is his style, really looked like he could enter the ring tomorrow this was confirmed when he stated he is walking around at 12 stone 10 pounds and I got the impression that he cannot wait for June 5th to come round.
In answering whether he has changed his training techniques to cope with the step up in weight Joe calmly replied, “No I'm doing what I do, I'm dedicated as always and I believe that hand-speed will be the factor in this fight. I'll be too fast and expect to knock him out in round seven or eight."
Joe also confirmed he will not abdicate his WBO super-middleweight title as he can still make the weight and that he is gunning for the winner of Jones- Tarver. As Mr Warren nicely put “If circumstances are right then beating Glencoffe buys Joe a seat a the table.”
Referring to television politics that Showtime and HBO are not a barrier to future fights for both champions, “We are only contracted to Sky so nothing is impossible.”
All positive noises so far then, even more pleasing was the admission that an open-air summer show is on the cards in late September but of course first both men must continue winning.
As highlighted above Hatton's opponent will be announced on Monday and the undercard on Thursday, both are in the final stages of negotiations. Once thing is for sure everyone concerned hopes it runs more smoothly than the last show at the MEN!
as you can see i went to the fight with pedersen and attended the press conf and interviewed the people involved so guess I might just have an insight into what occured...at least more so than folk recalling from memory 3 years ago. :P
Of course the JC fight fell through and the mitchell fight never happened and we got left with Hatton Vs Vilches, not one of SN's better sporting promotions from world titlle double header to pisspoor performance against an unknown.
But this happens I guess, hardly their fault if mitchell priced himself out or Pinto made up 17 different excuses at the last moment..but this is what occured, not ricky ducking pinto or mitchell, just fights not coming off.
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