By Mark Vester
According to ITV, former heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko is blaming both Oleg Maskaev and Samuel Peter for the delay in making his long awaited return to the ring.
For months, Klitschko was deep in negotiations with the camps of Peter and WBC heavyweight champion Maskaev, trying to work out a deal for June 2 bout with Maskaev in Moscow, Russia.
Peter, the mandatory challenger to Maskaev, was offered $2.75 million dollars to step aside in order for the Klitschko-Maskaev bout to come off. Acording to Klitschko, negotiations took so long that it forced HBO to pull the plug on the June 2 date.
"My fight with Oleg Maskaev, that many fans all over the world have been waiting for, unfortunately will not take place. The main reason that negotiations terminated was due to unreasonable ambitions of both Samuel Peter and Oleg Maskaev, which made it impossible to find a compromise that satisfied all of the parties taking part in negotiations. These negotiations dragged on for three months," Klitschko said.
"HBO made the final decision, announcing that it would be impossible for me to face Oleg Maskaev on June 2."
Peter is now set to face Maskaev for the WBC title. No date has been announced, but the WBC announced a purse bid deadline of April 20. The winner of Maskaev-Peter has been ordered by the sanctioning body to face Klitschko.