by Edward Chaykovsky

British welterweight contender Sam Eggington (18-3, 10KOs) nearly hit the lottery with a crack at WBC world champion Danny Garcia (32-0, 18KOs).

Eggington, who two fights ago was beaten by Bradley Skeete, is scheduled to faces Frankie Gavin on October 22 in Birmingham.

Garcia captured the vacant WBC welterweight belt in January with a twelve round decision over former champion Robert Guerrero. He's been on the shelf since with several opponent mentioned for his next fight.

Andre Berto was long mentioned as the opponent for Garcia. For some reason that fight fell out. Berto claims Garcia refused to jump on board with the fight. Garcia's return was targeted for October 15 and then October 29, but now his return is up in the air. The latest opponent being mentioned is junior welterweight contender John Molina, who earlier this year pulled off an upset decision over Ruslan Provodnikov.

According to promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport, a few weeks ago he was contacted by associates of Al Haymon, the manager of Garcia. They asked him if there were any available welterweights to face Garcia. He offered up Gavin and Eggington. They called Hearn the following day and requested Eggington.

The discussions fell flat over the money. Hearn says their offer of $100-125,000 was too low for his fighter.

"They phoned me up the next day and said we looked at them and we liked the Sam Eggington fight. They said would $100,000 do it? I said no, don’t insult us. ‘What about $125,000?’ I said no, Danny Garcia, you’ve got to be north of $150,000," Hearn told Boxing News. "He would have taken it for 10,000."

Garcia is in the voluntary stage at the moment. The mandatory challenger Amir Khan is out with injury. Once Khan is given medical clearance to return, likely at the start of 2017, the WBC will order that fight to take place.