By Shaun Brown
A fight between new WBO light-middleweight champion Liam Smith (21-0-1, 11 KOs) and 44-year-old former three-weight world champion Shane Mosley (48-9-1, 40 KOs) on December 19 in Manchester still has a long way to go to be finalised says promoter Frank Warren.
Speaking to Boxing Scene earlier, Warren said that talks are ongoing but he is in no mood to wait around for what would be Smith’s first defence of the title he won against John Thompson earlier this month.
“Where we are at the moment is nowhere,” said Warren who was on his way back to the U.K from this week’s WBO convention in Florida.
“It’s all conflicted. We’re trying to sort it but there’s a lot of opposition, over in the U.S, to the fight taking place.
“As much as Mosley’s a name or was a name, whatever way you want to look at it, it’s not going to be on his terms. At the end of the day Liam’s the champion and that’s it. If we want to do it we will do it. I think the next 24 hours, one way or another, we’ll know where we are. We’re not raising everyone’s expectations.”
A fight between Smith and Mosley was probably not what anyone expected for the Liverpudlian’s maiden defence. As is the case with boxing nowadays the matchmaking was done on Twitter after some verbal exchanges over the social media platform.
“I think Liam’s more than capable of winning the fight,” said Warren.
“It’s a tough fight mentally for him as much as he’s a name but when it gets down to the nitty-gritty I think Liam’s too young and too fresh. But as I say and emphasise there’s a long way to go. If we don’t do the right deal then we ain’t going to do the deal.”
Warren told ‘Scene that he already has other alternatives in mind should negotiations fall through.
“There’s two options in the [WBO] top 10 and we’ll take one and whoever wins will be out in March next year. We’re just not going to hang around.”
The December 19 show at the Manchester Arena is headlined by the long overdue WBO World middleweight title showdown between Andy Lee and Billy Joe Saunders. Warren’s most recent promotion on October 10 at the same venue had featured two world title fights as well a few domestic match-ups which went down well with boxing fans.
Speaking of the December 19 card, Warren revealed: “There’ll be seven or eight title fights on the show. As we say it’ll be a Christmas cracker.”
Shaun Brown is Boxing Scene’s UK Editor. Follow him on Twitter @sbrown2pt0 or contact him at sbrownboxing@gmail.com
