Why didn't Dariusz Michalczewski & RJJ ever fight?

[robertzimmerman]

Blu,

Darius would attempt for six years to secure a bout with his American counterpart, Roy Jones Jr, without success. After his titles were stripped from Dariusz, Jones would win Michalczewski's belts and spuriously declare himself "undisputed world champion". Jones steadfastly refused all offers for a lucrative fight with Darius and even made an attempt to ban the mention of Michalczewski's name on his home network, HBO. Seth Abraham, president and CEO of HBO, refused Jones demand and in 2002 a fan poll showed that the fight fans most wanted to see was Darius Michalczewski vs Roy Jones Jr. Jones continued to refuse offers for the fight however. One of his motivations may have been due to the fact that the offers were for the fight to be held in Europe, where Jones feared he could only win by a knockout.

The above isn't true.

I've read countless links with regards to this, and if you can post links on here, I'll put them up, if they're still available.

According to DM's promoter - Peter Kohl, he made two offers to Roy to go to Germany.

But Roy made it abundantly clear that he didn't want to go to Germany, because he didn't think he'd get a fair shake, and because he didn't feel as though he should have to travel, because he was the best fighter in the world, and he had all of the major belts.

At that point, Kohl stated that if Roy wasn't willing to go to Germany, then Roy and HBO had to make them a great offer to go to the U.S. So in 2001, Brad Jacobs who represented Roy, met several times with HBO's Kerry Davis to try and reach a deal. But they could never get Kohl to sit down and discuss numbers, and they couldn't even get him via the phone.

Now I've read a link where Kohl says that he purposely ignored Davis's attempts to make contact at one point, because Roy had refused his original offers to go to Germany, and they weren't going to jump through hoops for them, or words to that effect. It was playground stuff.

So after failing to make contact with Kohl, Davis came up with the idea of a double header. He wanted Dariusz to fight on one of Roy's cards, to introduce DM to the U.S. public, and to hype the fight. But the proposal was turned down flat, by Kohl saying that Dariusz wasn't an undercard fighter.

Dariusz was seemingly too proud to fight on a double header, that would have eventually have led to a huge fight against Roy for his old belts, yet he had no problem fighting Richard Hall twice, Lakatos and Joey De Grandis. Dariusz's resume tells its own story. He was happy defending his WBO title in Germany for good money. Despite what he said in the press, he didn't want to go to the U.S. and fight Roy, just like Roy didn't want to go to Germany. Neither fighter would budge, and it's a shame that the fight never happened. But it's an outright lie that Dariusz tried to get Roy in the ring for 6 years.

At that point, all talks fizzled out. Roy then went on to fight Gonzalez, and then he spoke to Holyfield just prior to his final fight against John Ruiz, with regards to a potential fight in 2002. But that never happened, because Evander didn't win back the belt from Ruiz, and Roy didn't think he'd get any credit for beating Evander at that point, in his first fight at the weight. So he remained at LHW to weigh up his options.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

I just told you. Read above. Or below. And note that Jones asked the WBA for an exemption so he could keep his belt and move back to HW after Tarver.

http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/...ticle-1.524388

Yeah, you were saying?

So Jones and Evan Fields stopped negotiating in summer 03? Nice timing.

[IMDAZED]

So Jones and Evan Fields stopped negotiating in summer 03? Nice timing.

Nice timing for?

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Nice timing for?

What was happening around that time. Then Jones goes through one of the steepest declines in boxing history whilst Evan gets knocked out by an ex middleweight. Just saying.

[IMDAZED]

What was happening around that time. Then Jones goes through one of the steepest declines in boxing history whilst Evan gets knocked out by an ex middleweight. Just saying.

Oh you mean they both lost (eventually). Yeah, happens in boxing. I thought you were still trying to hold on to that silly little notion regarding BALCO but you already admitted that you weren't making a connection.

[BattlingNelson]

Blu,



The above isn't true.

I've read countless links with regards to this, and if you can post links on here, I'll put them up, if they're still available.

According to DM's promoter, Peter Kohl, he made two offers to Roy to go to Germany.

But Roy made it abundantly clear that he didn't want to go to Germany, because he didn't think he'd get a fair shake, and because he didn't feel as though he should have to travel, because he was the best fighter in the world, and he had all of the major belts.

So you'll just give Jones a pass?

At that point, Kohl stated that if Roy wasn't willing to go to Germany, then Roy and HBO had to make them a great offer to go to the U.S. So in 2001, Brad Jacobs who represented Roy, met several times with HBO's Kerry Davis to try and reach a deal. But they could never get Kohl to sit down and discuss numbers, and they couldn't even get him via the phone.

I might miss on the timing here, but wasn't Jones's offer to DM a slot on a Roy Jones undercard worth a fraction of what DM earned in Europe?

Not exactly a serious offer.

[IMDAZED]

So you'll just give Jones a pass?

I might miss on the timing here, but wasn't Jones's offer to DM a slot on a Roy Jones undercard worth a fraction of what DM earned in Europe?

Not exactly a serious offer.

It would've been a two-fight deal.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Oh you mean they both lost (eventually). Yeah, happens in boxing. I thought you were still trying to hold on to that silly little notion regarding BALCO but you already admitted that you weren't making a connection.

Well when did it break?

[IMDAZED]

Well when did it break?

Sept. 2003. With nearly 30 athletes, mostly Olympians and baseball players. And the only boxer being Shane Mosley.

[robertzimmerman]

So you'll just give Jones a pass?

I might miss on the timing here, but wasn't Jones's offer to DM a slot on a Roy Jones undercard worth a fraction of what DM earned in Europe?

Not exactly a serious offer.

Both fighters had huge ego's and didn't want to budge. I'm not really giving anyone a pass.

But it's a flat out lie that Dariusz tried to get Roy in the ring for 6 years, and he was happy to fight in the U.S. He wasn't, and his resume reflects that.

With regards to the double header, it was only proposed via fax, because Davis couldn't get hold of Kohl via phone, and couldn't arrange a meeting to get the ball rolling.

Now I would guess that Dariusz wouldn't have gotten anywhere near the amount of money he was getting in Germany, fighting on a double header with Roy.

But Kohl never mentioned anything about the money, he instead said that Dariusz was a proud champion, and was too big to fight on anybody's undercard. But Dariusz had a decision to make. Did he take less money to fight on a double header, to eventually get a huge shot at Roy, for every belt at LHW? Or did he just carry on doing what he was doing? Those were his options, and he obviously picked the latter. In my opinion, it wasn't worth the risk for Dariusz to give up his great pay days in Germany.

But after the double header was turned down, there was no more negotiations to my knowledge. Kohl never said that they were willing to negotiate for a fight with Roy in the U.S. Things just seemed to fizzle out.

That to me, showed exactly what their intentions were.