Goosen calls Vitali a coward; looks to make Toney vs Byrd

From Boxingtalk: After reading our breaking news regarding Vitali Klitschko possibly facing Calvin Brock on September 24, James Toney's promoter Dan Goossen told Boxingtalk.com, "The whole heavyweight mess has always been about Vitali Klitschko. All of the other top heavyweights are willing to fight the best except for Klitschko. They're always for the low risk, high reward and it's a shame because it's bringing the lighter weights to the forefront of our industry, which has always been carried by the heavyweight division. The heavyweight division should drive this industry, but when you have someone, and God knows why he has so much influence on being able to dictate who he's going to fight these problems arise. He recently tried to fight a double-A baseball team and him being supposedly the powerful Yankees. Then that fight gets nixed and he moves up to a triple-A opponent. I like Calvin, I've known him for years and I've promoted him before but when everything is said and done, boxing fans shouldn't have to watch the Yankees play a triple-A team when the Dodgers are there ready to go head to head with him." Read on to see what else James Toney's outspoken promoter had to say. GL: So although Calvin Brock appears to be a promising young talent, you don't feel he's deserving of a title shot? Dan Goossen: " The real fans won't be satisfied and some reporters will probably write that it's a step up from Oleg Maskaev, but warriors and great champions want to prove their worth. Look at Castillo and Corrales. Mayweather and Hatton, they want to fight the best. His biggest money fight is James Toney. And what does he try to do? Fight Oleg Maskaev. His biggest fight is still James Toney and who does he try to fight now? A triple-A farm club. He's beaten Jameel McCline, who dropped him and he just fought Kenny Craven. Who has he beaten? We've got a world champion in James Toney that the public would love the see, the industry would love to see and it's the kind of fight that the division needs, but Vitali Klitschko doesn't want to fight anyone." GL: Since we all know that, has that prompted you to focus on negotiating Chris Byrd versus James Toney with King? That would certainly be the best fight for James if Klitschko doesn't get made and Wladimir and Williamson face each in a box-off. DG: "You know I'm really so disgusted by this whole thing because our industry needs big fights. This man fights Danny Williams and his PPV numbers were in the toilet, he's not going to earn any new fans if he takes on anything less than a risky fight. It's this kind of mediocrity that hurts our business. To me, he's raping the system. He's trying to generate money and rip the public off. That's why I admire guys like James Toney, Chris Byrd and Hasim Rahman. They're willing to fight. Lamon Brewster, willing to fight. They're real fighters, and you can't respect Vitali if he's running away from every challenge. Let's assume Vitali wants the biggest challenges, the blame would still lay at his feet if he allows other people in his ear to tell him differently." "You ask any of the top pound for pound fighters who they want to fight and they'll tell you the biggest threats out there to him. And that's Vitali hasn't gotten the respect of the American public because he won't do it." GL: Tell us about Byrd-Toney already. DG: "Look, I've had talks with Don. Byrd wants it, Don wants it, we want it and obviously James will take it. It's a real heavyweight fight." GL: If Klitschko doesn't want to fight James next, is it important to put Toney in a serious fight like Byrd, especially after so thoroughly explaining why Klitschko has been acting like a coward? DG: "It goes beyond that. The best fight is Vitali and James. As you know, Chris will fight anyone and Rahman is fighting Barrett. But we could only get to one great heavyweight champion with Klitschko. I'm not talking options and neither is Don, but still the only one who refuses to partake in it is Klitschko. It's not a matter of standing behind our word. The best thing for boxing is one heavyweight standing on top of the division. It would take about a year to do. Then you take Samuel Peter, Brock and Audley Harrison and every other talented young heavyweights. In a year or so we could have one true champion and one great young heavyweight. "We're determined to fight the best out there and so are the other top heavyweights. Vitali Klitschko should not be rewarded for ducking his responsibilities. I think what all this boils down to is that Shelly and Vitali thought that Don and I wouldn't be able to agree about James fighting Vitali. Don wanted the fight as bad as me and James did. And that shocked them. They never thought Don would give his approval without options. The bottom line is, we need to get the best heavyweights fighting the best heavyweights. Clearly, that's not what Klitschko's about." "I like Calvin Brock, but let him beat someone else before he fights the heavyweight champion. Let him beat someone like Sam Peter or Audley Harrison. I'll tell you this flat out, we offered them Audley Harrison and they turned him down. Why reward someone for not wanting to fight another up and coming heavyweight with a title shot?"