BoxRec

I have tickets for the Coldwell show on the 8th March & was looking forward to Barnes v Godding, but seemingly Rick has withdrawn. I read on Barnes twitter last night that Rick was 20lb overweight with no chance of making it.
Its a pity as it had the making of a great fight. Hope Barnes can get a decent opponent at this late stage.

20 lbs over at the 9 day weight check is a disgrace and very unproffessional for wat was going to be his biggest fight to date. also last week the board turned down an application for godding to fight for the british title fight against frankie gavin. makes u think dont it. probabaly told take it easy barness fight wont happen start a camp for gavin oopppsssss back fire. hope they make barnes mandatory for gavin now

Surely he had no intention of making weight if he was that over?

Disappointing behaviour.

Ridiculous

was Godding turned down by the board as a Mandatory or to just fight him ? (Gavin)

sweetscience wrote:was Godding turned down by the board as a Mandatory or to just fight him ? (Gavin)

it was to fight gavin, the elimintor has been set for a while

maley1984 wrote:

sweetscience wrote:was Godding turned down by the board as a Mandatory or to just fight him ? (Gavin)

it was to fight gavin, the elimintor has been set for a while

why would he be turned down to just fight him then ? he has a good enough record

were they not trying to push him through as a Mandatory challenger as you need one to keep the belt

maley1984 wrote:hope they make barnes mandatory for gavin now

I think he should have to win an eliminator first, he hasn't had a decent win in almost 5 years.

Barnes v Gavin won't happen, Barnes has to be one of the worst fighters for pulling out !

Before you assassinate the character of Godding - who is nothing but a good, honest, professional - remember you have only heard one side of the story. There were/are other parts to this !
Rick will no doubt air his views when the time is right, but his record of professionalism deserves the benefit of the doubt for now.
- More than most fighters - including his would be opponent.
Rick is ambitious and yearning for the big fights to make his mark. He will take on any top fighter at welter, and yes he wanted the Gavin fight, but thats not the reasoning behind this.

I look forward to hearing Godding's side of the story. 20lb 9 days before the fight is nothing short of insulting.

Again making assumptions you know nothing about.

To save face if he didn't want the fight he could of used the always faithful bad back injury, 20 pounds with 9 days is just an insult to Coldwell boxing

davidas wrote:Again making assumptions you know nothing about.

Believe me, I know more than you think I know

Thats all well & good Davidas, but my point was that I bought tickets in good faith looking forward to that fight. I appreciate that Rick might have had an issue with some aspects of the fight, but I paid my hard earned to see this fight & that is the point I was making.

Weighing that much prior to a fight is disgraceful, unprofessional and nothing but an insult to Coldwell boxing, the BBBofC and the sport itself.

My understand - is that the fight was announced the last week of Jan. Its only the last week of February now! and Rick is a big Welterweight and fought most of his last few fights almost at light-middle.
He also had Christmas and New Year off after the fight on the Klitschko undercard and so made the most of it.

He stated to me from the beginning that he would need longer to make the weight but agreed to a fight at a catchweight if the weight was agreed - it wasn't. There wasn't enough time in 4 weeks to effectively boil down from scratch and no-one would take David Barnes lightly.

The fight was announced as an eliminator which it shouldnt have been - as it wouldnt have been at the welter limit and so not an eliminator anyhow.

In the absence of the terms and catchweight being agreed, Rick adjusted his focus a few weeks ago to the Gavin fight which both fighters agreed too but everyone knows fell through at the hands of BBBC but only in the last week.

Ricks never ever not made the weight professional or amateur, nor has he ever pulled out of a fight.

Its not been some secret that the fight wasn't going ahead unless at a catchweight from Ricks side. Its even all over his Facebook group page that the terms havn't been agreed nor even a firm opponent through February. The marketing appears to have carried on regardless which has nothing to do with Rick whatsoever and now him being made a scapegoat is a *******. The rest - and the finer details will no doubt come out in the wash.

Theres not a malicious or unprofessional side to Rick at all. If anything he's too nice to some people. I'll ask him to join boxrec himself.

pyenest77 wrote:Thats all well & good Davidas, but my point was that I bought tickets in good faith looking forward to that fight. I appreciate that Rick might have had an issue with some aspects of the fight, but I paid my hard earned to see this fight & that is the point I was making.

I totally agree. Personally I dont think it should have even been announced if not nailed on. I'd love to see it happen though.

Well said Davidas.