By Rick Reeno

After Kelly Pavlik's unfortunate withdrawal from December's fight with Paul Williams, promoter Dan Goossen has been trying his best to secure a replacement. WBO junior middleweight champion Sergiy Dzinziruk is in the middle of a contract dispute with German-based promotional company Universum. That rules Dzinziruk out. Another possible name is WBC 154-pound champion Sergio Martinez. I've heard the two sides are still discussing the money involved.  

Over the last few days, Goossen and Top Rank have been trying to make a fight between Williams and former welterweight champ Joshua Clottey at 154-pounds. Clottey was originally scheduled to fight Carlos Quintana on the Williams-Pavlik undercard on December 5. That fight fell apart after Top Rank, who promote Pavlik and Clottey, were no longer involved with the show.

After speaking with multiple sources who are close to the discussions, BoxingScene.com was advised that an offer of $650,000 was turned down by Clottey's side. From what I've heard, and this has yet to be fully confirmed - that a counter-offer was never made. Obviously Clottey wants more money. We are almost in November and time is running out to properly promote an early December event. I expect a deal, with one opponent or another, before the end of the week.