BoxRec

Why would Warren put Skelton in the ring with Audley Harrison when Harrison has zero credibility & not proved himself worthwhile of a shot at Skelton?

As we all know, Audley was terrified of a fat, undertrained & injured Danny Williams & Skelton has subsequently beaten (maybe twice) Williams, so what possible benefit could there be in fighting Harrison?

Skelton should be demanding to move on in his career, not taking this retrograde step IMO.

Terence wrote:We could all be up to our tits in litigation just for reading this

Good job there is a lawyer on here

LOL!!!!

I never realised that F r a n k W a r r e n was beyond criticism!!! :P

Libel I can understand, but constructive criticism surely can't hurt his ego too much!!!!

Well if he did genuinely turn down a chance of Skelton fighting Maskaev for a world title, then I'd say yes he has ruined Skeltons late career, or atleast delayed it. Seriously if I was in Skelton's position then I'd be pissed.

lvlarc_uk wrote:Well if he did genuinely turn down a chance of Skelton fighting Maskaev for a world title, then I'd say yes he has ruined Skeltons late career, or atleast delayed it. Seriously if I was in Skelton's position then I'd be pissed.

It's not the first career he runined (or is about to ruin), is it?

In response to the original question, Of course not!Frick has not ruined anybody's career. Look at all the money they make!

As I have already said Harrison had his chance with Skelton and didnt want the match - Why should Skelton fight him now - There cant be a lot of money involved, its hardly a sell out fight -Skelton needs to move up and move on especially as his age is an issue - This is a step backwards as I see it and Matt should be challenging for a world title instead - Maybe allegedly is considering this fight as a warm up for a title, if he is and has a world title fight lined up, it does change things a little - However Skeltons belt should not be on the line because Harrison hasnt earned the right to fight for the Commonwealth title.

Warren must have options on Harrison if he somehow manages to win I would have thought. So FW is in a win win situation putting the fight on if that is the case. Skelton wins and he has beaten an olympic champ and in line for a title shot. Harrison wins and FW has an olympic champion on his books who will have a win over a world rated fighter.

Are you having a laugh about allegedly ruining Skelton's career.

Matt must be getting up every morning pinching himself and wonder if it is a dream to come this far with limited ability.

From day one is has been one of the best handled fighters in Britain through Eugene Maloney and now Warren - who brought him back after the loss to Danny Williams

lvlarc_uk wrote:Well if he did genuinely turn down a chance of Skelton fighting Maskaev for a world title, then I'd say yes he has ruined Skeltons late career, or atleast delayed it. Seriously if I was in Skelton's position then I'd be pissed.

And what about if they sat down and had a talk about the options and decided between them that the money was not good enough and the risk factor was far too big. Does happen that way you know!

Believe it or not the fighters do actually talk and have a brain themselves to make decisions. Skelton is grown man and believe it or not can actually think for himself.

boxingchat wrote:

lvlarc_uk wrote:Well if he did genuinely turn down a chance of Skelton fighting Maskaev for a world title, then I'd say yes he has ruined Skeltons late career, or atleast delayed it. Seriously if I was in Skelton's position then I'd be pissed.

And what about if they sat down and had a talk about the options and decided between them that the money was not good enough and the risk factor was far too big. Does happen that way you know!

Believe it or not the fighters do actually talk and have a brain themselves to make decisions. Skelton is grown man and believe it or not can actually think for himself.

Does Warren have options on Harrison if he wins?

Of course he does.

Tobe willing to risk putting him on prime-time ITV again, he has to have options.

And if I were Harrison I'd snap his arm off.

I've been thinking about this lately and I'm convinced I have the answer.

Frank wants to be ringside, on one of his own shows, to witness the last rites on the career of the gold medal winner who refused to sign with him.

It wasn't just a case of Audley not signing for him and going with somebody else - Audley tried to go it alone, without the backing of a major promoter.

If it had worked, future prospects would have followed Audley's path. If it had caught on, then the future would look bleak for people like Warren, because all of a sudden "it" could be done without him.

This was Frank's big fear, and from his point of view, understandably so. I think this was on his mind when Danny Williams decked Audley, and Frank leaped into the air in delight.

Audley's career is probably beyond repair but Frank can set the icing on the cake by watching one of his own fighters put the final nail in Audley's coffin.

In future, boxers will think twice about going it alone.

That's my take anyway but there has to be strong reasoning behind turning down a shot at Maskaev, regardless of what the purse was, and matching Skelton with Audley. It's hardly a fight the public or TV companies demand, is it ?!

If nothing else, if Skelton ko's or otherwise batters Harrison live on ITV, it will increase his popularity because nobody likes Harrison. Also, the fact is Harrison is one of the few guys around that everybody (meaning people who don't follow boxing) has heard of

boxingchat wrote:

lvlarc_uk wrote:Well if he did genuinely turn down a chance of Skelton fighting Maskaev for a world title, then I'd say yes he has ruined Skeltons late career, or atleast delayed it. Seriously if I was in Skelton's position then I'd be pissed.

And what about if they sat down and had a talk about the options and decided between them that the money was not good enough and the risk factor was far too big. Does happen that way you know!

Believe it or not the fighters do actually talk and have a brain themselves to make decisions. Skelton is grown man and believe it or not can actually think for himself.

Well perhaps you'd be kind enough to tell us what offer Skelton received from Maskaev's camp?

It's not like we are talking about a young undefeated prospect here, he had a chance to fight the weakest of the world title holders but chose to fight Audley instead and now that chance may be gone. If he's happy to stay at domestic level then fine that's his choice.

I don't see how the risk would be far too big though, he's 39 & already lost to Danny Williams for christ sake! Seriously how many fights does he have left in him?

JimJim wrote:I've been thinking about this lately and I'm convinced I have the answer.

Frank wants to be ringside, on one of his own shows, to witness the last rites on the career of the gold medal winner who refused to sign with him.

It wasn't just a case of Audley not signing for him and going with somebody else - Audley tried to go it alone, without the backing of a major promoter.

If it had worked, future prospects would have followed Audley's path. If it had caught on, then the future would look bleak for people like Warren, because all of a sudden "it" could be done without him.

This was Frank's big fear, and from his point of view, understandably so. I think this was on his mind when Danny Williams decked Audley, and Frank leaped into the air in delight.

Audley's career is probably beyond repair but Frank can set the icing on the cake by watching one of his own fighters put the final nail in Audley's coffin.

In future, boxers will think twice about going it alone.

That's my take anyway but there has to be strong reasoning behind turning down a shot at Maskaev, regardless of what the purse was, and matching Skelton with Audley. It's hardly a fight the public or TV companies demand, is it ?!

That's an excellent point you make.

I think you maybe right.

I disagree a bit there Jimjim, yes Warren wants to see Audley beaten - but he doesn't need him now, Harrison has been beaten and exposed by the only two names on his resume (apart from Francis). So why doesn't he worry about his charge and consign Harrison to the scrap heap.

In my opinion, if Audley said to Frank "I will sign for you after Skelton" and put his signature to confirm this, then Frank would soon change allegence. Why? Cause it would appear that the US do not give a flying f about his two main heavyweight charges.

Now we joke about these false promises that seem to have happend for Skelton and Williams - but it does really show the respect they have in the US (or lack of). Williams beat an undefeated Olympic champ, and an undefeated British champion back to back - and it still really failed to make a ripple stateside. Williams vs Harrison was live on PPV in the states, but it basically did create a Junior Witter effect.

Technically with those two wins, Danny deserved his chance say more than Monte Barrett, Owen Beck and a few others have - but it wasn't even close to happening. Nobody (who counts) is interested in Matt Skelton, a 39 year old who lost to fat boy in the first meeting.

The only fighter out of the 3 that could muster a World title fight is Harrison - obviously needs to be repackaged an awful lot - but he has the name.

If Skelton is serious about wanting a world title fight, then I would suggest a move away from SN - He needs to (quickly) base himself in the states and with King. Then he might appear on the undercards of big bills and who knows. At the moment, he has no chance of fighting for the world title. If Warren couldn't come close to getting Williams a shot (after beating Skelton and Harrison) - then Skelton has no chance, unless he moves to the states.

Hi gents,

personally I think Skelton's best route (providing he beats Harrison) is the old-fashioned way of earning it....I would have him try to grab the EU title early next year (might be nice versus Sprott?), then grab an international belts, followed by a shot at the EBU title. Seeing as he fights 3 or 4 times each year I dont see why a world title shot for christmas 2007 couldn't be a possibility.

best wishes

"T.M.K"

T.M.K wrote:Hi gents,

personally I think Skelton's best route (providing he beats Harrison) is the old-fashioned way of earning it....I would have him try to grab the EU title early next year (might be nice versus Sprott?), then grab an international belts, followed by a shot at the EBU title. Seeing as he fights 3 or 4 times each year I dont see why a world title shot for christmas 2007 couldn't be a possibility.

best wishes

"T.M.K"

Surely Sprott is a big step back for the 39 year old Skelton, surely he can muster an EBU title shot - without looking at Sprott.

The EBU title is well within his capabilities. Sprott got shafted vs Virchis who is now the champion.

Well I agree in that respect Mr Jones,

I'm sorry, I didn't think the EU title was on the line when Sprott fought Virchis (my bad), so instead I would have Skelton get Virchis first, just to get a Euro title. The worry for me is it could take Warren too long to get the EBU title, so i'd go for the lesser one - then grab an intercontinental belt, then have the inter-title on the line when facing the EBU champ.

I also think the marketability goes up a bit and negotiations are easier when the challenger has a bit more weight behind his claim to a shot - and 3 belts would do that (look at Jr Witter).

4 fights next year: 1 = EU, 2 = Inter, 3 = EBU....then hopefully 4 could be a world title shot. Also by then Skelton will be 40 and it'll be a nice little Cinderella-Man story for british boxer to get a world title shot ;)

cheers

"T.M.K"

Let's be realistic here. Nobody expected Skelton to get anywhere turning pro boxer so late in his career, and he's not exactly set the world on fire during his career.

He's made a packet with Sports Network considering his skill level, time as a professional fighter and his realistic prospects as a fighter. He was also fortunate to come along during such a pathetic era for british heavyweights, but I am sure he is very happy at having been able to make a good living as a boxer at such an advanced age.

I am a little mystified by Skelton's unwillingness to go and fight Maskaev if it was merely the money issue. Matt could have rebounded from a loss to Maskaev, and could have won the title and made a packet in a couple of defences. Maybe there was more to it than meets the eye, but on paper it looks a bad decision. However, to suggest that Warren strongarmed him into it seems a little unlikely to me.

TMK,

Virchis-Sprott was for the EBU title. As Sprott ran Virchis close (which means, to anyone outside Germany, he won) then you'd say Skelton has a very good chance on that basis.

Skelton is now I think the EBU's effective #1. If he wants it, he'll be mandatory for the Virchis-SSS winner (although SSS appears to be fighting Bob Miro next month, so if the fight with Virchis is still on I don't see it being until 2007)

So anyway Skelton should get a shot at the EBU next year. BUT - why do that when you've been offered a world title shot? The 'glory' of being European champ aside, it's a way of getting high up the world rankings. But there's no need for that if you're getting offered fights anyway. And then we come to the FW argument that the money was poor. But then the counter-argument that a) it's surely still more than an EBU fight or Harirson fight and b) money aside, a world title fight is every boxers ultimate aim and c) Skleton is no spring chicken.

So I don't see why the Maskaev fight wasn't taken. I wouldn't say Skelton's chances of getting a win against him would be far less than a win against the likes of Virchis. Maybe they're holding out for a Valuev fight, which given his welathy backers would indeed probably be more lucrative in terms of a one-off payday. But can you see Skelton beating Valuev? With Maskaev, he had a live chance.

Just find it very frustrating. As james has just said, props to SN and Skelton for getting to where they have got so far, financially and achievement-wise (Lonsdale etc) but surely the time was right to take the Maskaev opportunity?