By Rick Reeno
BoxingScene.com was informed by Willie Savannah, manager of WBO/WBA/IBF lightweight champion Juan Diaz (33-0, 17KOs), that unless the WBO and WBA titles are on the line against IBF mandatory Nate Campbell (31-5, 25KOs), they are not moving forward with the agreed upon HBO date of March 8 in Cancun, Mexico.
Last week, Savannah was sent a letter from the WBO president, giving him three-days to make a fight with WBO-interim champion Michael Katsidis (23-0, 20KOs) or they would strip Diaz. According to Katsidis' agent, Sampson Lewkowicz, an agreement was made where both Diaz and Katsidis would take interim bouts before fighting each other. The agreement would also prevent Diaz from losing his WBO title. But, Lewkowicz stressed that in order to keep the agreement in place, Diaz must defend the WBO title against Campbell on March 8. If he fails to do so, the sanctioning body will strip him.
"We want to win the WBO title in the ring, not on the table. We agreed that if he defends the WBO title against Campbell, he will not lost the title. However if he doesn't defend the title, he will be stripped according to the bylaws of WBO," Lewkowicz said.
The problem, according to Savannah, is Diaz's promoter Don King. Savannah told BoxingScene that King is not willing to pay the promoter's sanctioning fees to the WBA and WBO, and only wants the IBF title to be on the line against Campbell. Another issue is a signed fight contract, which Savannah has yet to receive.
"King doesn't want Juan to defend those belts. We still don't have a signed contract from Don King so as long as I'm concerned we don't have a fight. King doesn't want to pay three promoter sanctioning fees for the fight," Savannah said. We're taking short money to make this fight happen just satisfy King and fight Nate Campbell. We want to make sure this is the last fight with King and then walk away.
"If we take the fight with Nate, we will lose the WBA and WBO titles. Juan worked too hard, he is not going to give his belts up. If Juan doesn't get to defend all three belts against Nate, there won't be a fight. We even offered to pay King's sanctioning fees for the WBO and the WBA. We will not fight in Cancun unless we have a signed contract and the WBO and WBA are involved," Savannah said. "Nate Campbell is his fighter. Why would he want Nate to fight for only one belt instead of three? This fight has a 50-50 chance of happening."
