The proposed April 16th battle between Wladimir Klitshcko and IBF heavyweight champion Chris Byrd is officially off according to promoter Don King.
Don King, in a last ditch effort to save the fight, offered Chris Byrd $3.5 million dollars to seal the deal. Chris Byrd was still not sold and balked at the offer. Byrd is still unhappy with having to fight Klitschko in Germany and is disputing that he is responsible for covering a $250,000 fee to his co-promoter Fight Night. Chris Byrd is claiming that Don King is contracted to pay the $250K fee to Fight Night, King says that Byrd is responsible for the fee.
King is steamed over the proposed fight falling apart and said that Byrd will not earn anywhere near the $3.5 million dollar amount to fight any other heavyweight contender on United States soil.
The camp of Wladmir Klitshcko was also upset with the news and issued a comment regarding the situation. "Byrd is scared to fight Wladimir. Chris Byrd said Wladimir is shot fighter with a weak chin, but he is afraid to fight him."
The Klitschko camp said that despite rumors, the April 30th Madison Square Garden bout between WBC champion Vitali Klitschko and number 1 contender Hasim Rahman is not off. Don King held a meeting with Rahman's manager James Prince to work out the final details. Rahman has still not signed the contract for the fight because he is upset with his end of the money. King has bumped up Rahman's take to $2 million dollars and a percentage of the live take. King is hoping that he can get Rahman's signature by the end of this week and schedule a press conference officially announcing the fight.
What ever happened to a fighter taking a fight that he originally requested? Rahman has been crying to fight Klitschko, now that he has Klitschko, he refuse to takes the fight unless he gets more money. Byrd has been crying to get revenge on Wladimir, not that he has him, he wants more money. Floyd Mayweather was crying for a shot at Arturo Gatti, he got Gatti, then he refused to fight because he wanted more money.
