BoxRec

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=10566&more=1

The best snippets, which Warren shouldn't really argue with.


"Where can promoter allegedly allegedly find a doctor who would advise a boxer who breaks his hand to fight on two month's rest?"

" I find Calzaghe and Warren to be like "Alice In Wonderland" as things just get "curiouser and curiouser" with them. Maybe I should say it's "Joe In Warrenland," Palle said.."

Palle repeated his constant assertion that his undefeated WBC-WBA super middleweight champ Mikkel "Viking Warrior" Kessler stands ready to go to the United Kingdom in September for a unification bout against the unbeaten Calzaghe. Palle said he and Kessler will accept terms and conditions of "complete parity" or a 50-50 all revenue split for the much-anticipated showdown.

On HBO's Calzaghe-Manfredo telecast, the great American trainer, Emanuel Steward, said it without hestiation and added that Kessler-Calzaghe is the only super middleweight fight that fight fans worldwide want to see now."

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Even for those of us who think Calzaghe DOES want this fight, I think the Danes are coming out on top at the moment and making FW/JC look a bit stupid. This will REALLY damage Calzaghe's legacy if he doesn't fight him, or says that Kessler is demanding too much money. 50/50 split for the fight to be in the UK? Sounds fair to me.

FW should postpone Calzaghe's next fight till September if need be - and face Kessler.


beszt wishes

"T.M.K"

The fight should be made in the USA, it appears that American TV is up on both fighters these days, so why not stage it on neutral ground? I guess there is the issue of who is going to promote it if it is stateside.

This fight ain't happening. We may as well resign ourselves to it now.

It would sell 25000 seats in denmark and 35000 plus over here,
in the states it wouldnt sell 10000

Yes the gate is a factor, but so it the American PPV dollar, which is bigger than the live gate. Yes, I'm sure it would sell 35,000 over here, possibly even more. The problem is, that to travel here, Kessler will want parity, which ain't gonna happen.

I don't know about the figure given for Denmark, Freheit would know better, but I'm dubious about the figure quoted.

I'm sure this fight would sell well on PPV stateside, combine that with the PPV buy here and in Europe and you have a tidy sum.

The problem is that American cable companies are loathe to show fights delayed these days, so if you want to sell a show over there, it either has to be over there, or shown live their time.

Well Hatton is bigger than Calzaghe stateside, but combinded i would guess the figures would be similar, does anyone know the PPV sales for any of Hattons last few fights over there?

No I don't, and PPV figures quoted are notoriously unreliable.

Also, Hatton recent PPV offerings have not been high profile unification bouts, which Calzaghe v Kessler would be.

I reckon that they could do 400,000 buys stateside alone with the right promotion, not counting the UK and European buys. Maybe that's a bit optimistic, but it's not often you get a unification between two top drawer fighters on PPV shown live in America.

Has Hatton even been shown on PPV in America? I'm not so sure he has, not since he signed with HBO.

I'm not sure myself, I thought the fight with Collazo was PPV wasn't it?

I don't think so. I believe the Maussa fight was PPV, but via some random satellite network, rather than one of the big boys. I think the same network (direcTV or something like that) also offered Americans the chance to purchase Audley-Williams I. Heaven help anyone who paid for that.

I very much doubt it will be a PPV in USA, not with the big boys as States said.

Its surprising how many bouts are not PPV in the US... big bills etc. For example, the Cotto/Maragarito double header wasn't a PPV.

Yes, true, there aren't THAT many PPV stars, however, surely this could be built into a successful PPV promotion.

Sadly though the fiasco of the Manfredo fight has done Joe no favours. Had he twatted him, which he probably would have done had the fight gone on, then the audience could have gotten excited by it.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:This fight ain't happening. We may as well resign ourselves to it now.

yep.

warren wants another summer payday.

no way is he gonna delay sod all until september and go with a 50/50 split.

it's dead.

Having it in America would be an insult.

There's a lot at stake for both sides so it'll take a long time to agree terms. Let's hear what HBO have to say and what they'll do to make things happen.

I don't think it's all down to Warren and Calzaghe however, I think it's at least partially down to Palle and Kessler trying it on.

Think about it. Where else are they going to go to get this massive payday they want? Nobody is offering them huge sums of money.

Whilst it is annoying that this fight may not happen, I think it all too easy to point the finger of blame at Calzaghe.

Here's an excellent piece on the matter.

http://www.maxboxing.com/Kim/Kim041007.asp

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I don't think it's all down to Warren and Calzaghe however, I think it's at least partially down to Palle and Kessler trying it on.

Think about it. Where else are they going to go to get this massive payday they want? Nobody is offering them huge sums of money.

Whilst it is annoying that this fight may not happen, I think it all too easy to point the finger of blame at Calzaghe.

Here's an excellent piece on the matter.

http://www.maxboxing.com/Kim/Kim041007.asp

I think the fact Kessler travelled to Australia to fight Mundine is an example of how small a draw he is. Short of Taylor and Winky Wright Kessler won't come close to making the kind of money Warren was offering at SM or LH.
Anyone know how much Kessler got for the Beyer fight?

He took the thin end of the wedge in order to give Beyer a nice big fat inducement to come over and lose. Big paydays have a way of robbing fighters of their ambition, especially when they are close to the end of their careers. It worked for Hatton, and for McGuigan against Pedroza.

I know he drew 20,000 in Denmark, but that's 15,000 less than Calzaghe got to fight Manfredo, just over half.

What did HBO give them for his fight against Andrade?

I don't consider either man a HUGE draw outside their homelands, Calzaghe is obviously the bigger draw at home, and the fight is probably biggest staged in the UK, although a lot depends on what was sold on PPV in the states if it was staged there.

Fight crowds for boxing in the USA aren't anywhere near as big as the biggest in the UK, but ticket prices are higher generally. PPV's are often more expensive in the USA as well.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:He took the thin end of the wedge in order to give Beyer a nice big fat inducement to come over and lose. Big paydays have a way of robbing fighters of their ambition, especially when they are close to the end of their careers. It worked for Hatton, and for McGuigan against Pedroza.

I know he drew 20,000 in Denmark, but that's 15,000 less than Calzaghe got to fight Manfredo, just over half.

What did HBO give them for his fight against Andrade?

I don't consider either man a HUGE draw outside their homelands, Calzaghe is obviously the bigger draw at home, and the fight is probably biggest staged in the UK, although a lot depends on what was sold on PPV in the states if it was staged there.

Fight crowds for boxing in the USA aren't anywhere near as big as the biggest in the UK, but ticket prices are higher generally. PPV's are often more expensive in the USA as well.

Both promoters are guitly of playing games, imo. Warren gets roasted, but Palle is just as much to blame. On the surface both have made reasonable offers to make the fight, but there doesn't seem much conviction to actually make something happen on either side.

I agree.

Look it from Mogens point of view. Kessler is almost universally recognised as at least the #2 at SM. He is a good deal younger than Calzaghe, with a good 4-5 years left in his career all being well.

He has two choices.

Put Kessler in with Calzaghe in what is a high risk fight. Even Kessler's biggest fans would not claim that he would be a big favourite if favourite at all against Joe. He is on the up, and his earning potential is still increasing.

Or.

Turn down offers on the grounds they are unreasonable, make it look like Joe and Warren are ducking him, and/or wait until Joe is another year older and hopefully in decline before signing for the fight, and in the meantime have a couple more fights, hoping that when Kessler finally gets in the ring with Joe, that Calzaghe is looking for one last payday, and maybe try to lure him over to Denmark hoping that Kessler can inherit Calzaghe's mantle, and then, let the good times roll.

Kessler knows Calzaghe will soon be gone, his brittle hands and advancing years, make him more beatable in theory at least, with every passing month especially if he is inactive.

Kessler, barring disaster, will still be there when Joe is gone, and if they can make it look like they were ducked, all the better.

It will be interesting to see what other offers come their way. I will be surprised if Taylor, Hopkins or Winky show any great inclination to get in the ring with him, and let's face it, what other big names are there at and around 160-175?

fornicate me James, have you started working for Sports Network....


Kesslers back seems pretty bad so you couldnt be sure his career will go much longer (obviously we all hope it does)

The same scenario as Ottke and Calzaghe and that didnt happen either...

Not at all, I am just pointing out the realities of the situation.

Palle has a hot property, why risk it for anything less than the maximum he thinks he can get.

Let him try and get parity with Jermaine Taylor, I think we all know what the result of that will be.

It's just as easy for Palle not to make this fight happen as it is for SN.

knockout wrote:eff me James, have you started working for Sports Network....


Kesslers back seems pretty bad so you couldnt be sure his career will go much longer (obviously we all hope it does)

The same scenario as Ottke and Calzaghe and that didnt happen either...

For exactly the same reason. Ottke didn't want to leave Germany (with big paydays and friendly judges and refs why would he?) and Calzaghe (rightly considering some of Ottke's dodgy wins) didn't want to travel to Germany.
Clearly Palle see Calzaghe as a massive risk otherwise they'd just take a hit on the purse (like they did with Beyer) just to get the win and the kudos.

Precisely, they were pretty confident of beating a shopworn Beyer, and took the hit for bigger opportunities, but now they want top dollar to take on Calzaghe.

Having said all this, bollocks to it all, I want to see this fight.

The problem is, that given they are from rival organisations, the only way this fight can ever happen is if both camps agree terms. This is, yet again, the problem with boxing, there is little or no way to force fighters to fight one another, given that the promoters refuse to work together in most cases.

This all comes down in the end to Mogens and Warren agreeing terms, which seems incredibly unlikely.

Why doesn't Palle say by when Kessler could fight Calzaghe. Then we'd take it from there.

The impression is creeping up that also Kessler would happily content himself with cheap US money (Jones, Tarver) instead of going for the unifier.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:
This all comes down in the end to Mogens and Warren agreeing terms, which seems incredibly unlikely.

I agree. Warren knows Calzaghe has 2 or 3 fights left in him, so he wants top dollar for his man... Palle knows Calzaghe is a huge risk and wants top dollar for taking it. Either way someone has to give a little and I can't see either budging any time soon. Taylor looks 100 times more likely to fight Calzaghe than Kessler at this point.

pundit wrote:Why doesn't Palle say by when Kessler could fight Calzaghe. Then we'd take it from there.

The impression is creeping up that also Kessler would happily content himself with cheap US money (Jones, Tarver) instead of going for the unifier.

To be frank, I think both fighters would happily agree to the match. It's the promoters playing politics that is stopping this fight from happening.