By Rick Reeno
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer was visibly upset when he explained the details behind the failed discussions to make a middleweight fight between WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin (29-0, 21KOs) and British contender Martin Murray (25-1-1, 11KOs).
Murray has well documented issues with obtaining a visa to enter the United States. To make the fight happen, Schaefer was willing to make a deal where Quillin would travel to England to face Murray on his home turf. However, Schaefer indicates that Murray promoter, Richard Poxon - Director of Boxing for Hatton Promotions - was impossible to deal with.
Quillin is set to return on October 26th at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
"We had one opponent in mind, Martin Murray - but the people he is with are impossible to deal with. Ricky Hatton is a great friend of mine. I'm always there for him and we talk to each other once in a while. The CEO he has is an idiot, Richard Poxon. He doesn't know what he is doing," Schaefer detailed.
"We wanted to give one of the Hatton fighters [a title shot], Martin Murray, who had a great fight with Sergio Martinez and a lot of people think he beat Sergio Martinez. And if it would have been outside of Argentina he probably would have won. We said we can have Peter Quillin come to England, no problem. But unfortunately [Murray] has a promoter who doesn't know what the hell he's doing. If you have the wrong promoter, that guy can really f*** up you career. And here you have Martin Murray, coming off an unbelievable performance, and you have Peter Quillin who is willing to come to England - and [Murray's promoter] finds a way not to make it happen."