By Mark Vester

Junior welterweight Willie Limond has backed away from facing unbeaten Dmitriy Salita on the November 8 undercard to Joe Calzaghe-Roy Jones Jr. at New York's Madison Square Garden. Limond says that Salita's promoter, Square Ring, wanted three options if he won, but what really bothered him is the money, which would have been the same amount as the Salita fight.

"I'm gutted we couldn't come to some sort of agreement," Limond told The Scotsman. "This has been going on since July, this fight has been on and off about 10 times. They weren't taking any risks, I was taking all the risks. I was willing to take c*** money in the first fight, but they wanted me to sign a three-fight deal for the same money for every single fight after that."

Limond plans to fight this Saturday as part of small tuneup card and then plans to drop back down to lightweight to hunt for a possible bout with Juan Diaz.

"I got more fighting for my EU title in Glasgow four years ago, so it just doesn't make sense. If they were that confident they were going to beat me, why did they need me to sign the options contract? It was a no-win situation," Limond said. 

"Defending this title twice is not out of my capabilities, to get a fight against Juan Diaz. These are hard fights but I'm getting to the level where I need to be in these fights. One minute I'm meant to be fighting at Madison Square Garden and the next I'm on the Paisley show. You have got to be professional and put the same effort into every single job, but it's been a frustrating time."

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