Why didn't Dariusz Michalczewski & RJJ ever fight?

[IMDAZED]

Wow! So much false information that thread. Some of you guys probably weren't already into boxing during Michalczewski's prime or career.

First of all you got to understand that Michalczewski was a superstar in Germany. He was way bigger then Huck, Abraham or Sturm today. I won't say he was that big as the Klitschkos today, but he came close. Actually they used to fight on his undercards.

When Michalczewski fought Virgil Hill 1997 - that was THE fight at LHW at that time. Hill had around 20 title defenses and was regarded as THE man at LHW after beating Maske. At that time Michalczewski was regarded as a paper champion by the media until he has beaten Hill clearly. He was THE man after that. Jones had one fight at LHW at that point. He won the title against the 42 year old McCallum (who was a great fighter in his prime but way over the hill when he fought Jones). So don't twist things up here. Michalczewski has just unified the titles and made big money in Germany. Why should he fight Jones in the USA at that point? He was the main attraction in the division at that point.

From there on Michalczewski called Jones out after almost every time they fought. They even showed Jones vs. Hill in Germany because they wanted to build up that fight. But here comes the thing: Back then there was no twitter, no facebook, no youtube and all that ****. You can't compare the time with today. Michalczewski said on German television and to newspaper all the time that he wants to fight Roy Jones, but those "call outs" didn't make to much noise in the USA and Klaupe Kohl (Boss of Universum) probably never really made contact with Jones to make the fight. Michalczewski was his cash cow and he made good money with him in Germany.

Jones at that time fought for the titles Michalczwski had vacated. I don't know if it was the IBF or the WBA, but they asked Michalczewski to make a defense within 45 days after winning the title from Hill. Of course that was not enough time and he vacated the title.

Jones never called out Michalczewski until 2002. Up to that point fans got tired of seeing him fight guys like Frazier, Hall and Kelly. Jones made around 3 million dollar a fight from his HBO contract. Some fans were really angry and and called out the "Roycott". At that point HBO started to push for Michalczewski vs. RJJ. They even handed out banners to the fans before the Kelly fight ("Dariusz you're next!"). I think it was after the Kelly fight were Jones officially called out Michalczewski. He said something like "Tell him I want to fight him. Tell him that I ask for that fight.". Michalczewski was way over the hill at that point. He had a very short prime because of his lifestyle. He loved to party, to **** women and just be a playboy. Shortly after Jones called him he went to war with Hall and lost to Gonzalez. At that point he would have lost badley to Jones.

Michalczewski once said: "The are no dream fights. The are only dream purses."

Michalczewski was all business. He was scared of nobody, but money was his main focus. After Brewster knocked out Wladimir Klitschko Michalczewski was very serious about challenging Brewster for the heavyweight crown. Of course Kohl didn't allowed that to happen. He had to protect Michalczewski.

A RJJ vs. Michalczewski fight was never realistic because of the money. Those two guys had very big egos. Michalczewski was a real champ and a superstar in Europe. Of course he wasn't willing to fight on an Jones undercard for peanuts. The Telesco fight didn't happen because Telesco asked for 1.5 million dollars which was ridiculous at that point.

The numbers you guys are talking about are also wrong. Somebody wrote that Kohl offered Jones 5 Million dollars for a fight in Germany and Michalczewski would have made 8 million dollars. That's absolutely unlreastic. No way in hell these numbers are realistic or true at all. You simply can't generate that much money with a fight in Germany. There's no PPV in Germany.

When they asked Michalczewski about how much did he expect to make against Jones he said: "10 million dollars for both guys. That's realistic.". But it wasn't realistic at all. If they would have fought in the USA no way Jones would accept a 50:50 split. And even if he did both guys would make maybe 3 millions at most, because Michalczewski was unknown in the USA and no PPV-fighter. And if they would have fought in Germany both guys would've made the same money at most. This fight wasn't about money - it was about legacy. And both guys cared about money more. That's why it never happened. And of story.

He didn't have to make a defense after 45 days. He had to make a decision on whether or not he would defend against his mandatory after 30. Somehow over the years this has been misconstrued as him having to fight within that time even though it's common practice for sanctioning bodies to demand from unified title-holders 30-day notice from them that they will defend their title next.

Dariusz chose to defend the WBO title against the much easier challenge of Nicky Piper rather than the much dangerous WBA (I think?) mandatory Lou Del Valle, who had given Virgil Hill hell prior to Hill's bout against Dariusz. Not surprising since Dariusz's promoter was real tight with the WBO. Jones would go on to unify the three major belts, defeating Del Valle only 83 days after defending his first strap.

[robertzimmerman]

Except the lineal championship.

That's right. But it was out of his hands.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

From Balco? Yes. Since the records were released.

No in general. Jones walks away from huge paydays at Heavyweight to move back down and fight Tarver. Strange decision. All the while, one of the biggest scandals in sports history is going down. And Roy looks like **** in his subsequent fights.

[BattlingNelson]

He didn't have to make a defense after 45 days. He had to make a decision on whether or not he would defend against his mandatory after 30. Somehow over the years this has been misconstrued as him having to fight within that time even though it's common practice for sanctioning bodies to demand from unified title-holders 30-day notice from them that they will defend their title next.

Dariusz chose to defend the WBO title against the much easier challenge of Nicky Piper rather than the much dangerous WBA (I think?) mandatory Lou Del Valle, who had given Virgil Hill hell prior to Hill's bout against Dariusz. Not surprising since Dariusz's promoter was real tight with the WBO. Jones would go on to unify the three major belts, defeating Del Valle only 83 days after defending his first strap.

This is what boxrec writes:

- The fight (HILL-DM) was originally planned for April 5, but was postponed first to April 19 ("to get an appropriate site" according to IBF president Robert W. Lee), then moved again to June 13.
- On March 7, 1997, a federal judge ****inson R. Debevoise of U.S. District Court at Newark, N.M., ruled that the IBF must give its leading light heavyweight contender a title shot by July 19 or face a fine because it harmed the fighter by breaking its own rules. Under the ruling, No. 1 contender William Guthrie had to fight the winner of the April 19 match between IBF champion Virgil Hill and WBO champion Dariusz Michalczewski within 90 days of the bout.
- On May 10, 1997, words of IBF president Robert Lee were reported in the press, that the IBF stripped Hill of his title because "we had to follow the order of the court," which had ordered that Guthrie must get an IBF title fight by July 19. (Sources: The Washington Times, May 10, 1997; The Washington Post, May 10, 1997; St. Petersburg Times, May 10, 1997; Houston Chronicle, May 11, 1997; Denver Rocky Mountain News, May 11, 1997; Los Angeles Daily News, May 12, 1997)
- After the fight it was reported that Michalczewski's promoter Klaus-Peter Kohl said: "Guthrie is Don King's man and we don't want to do any business with him." Kohl has said he is hoping an arrangement on juggling title defences can be worked out with the WBO and WBA. (Sources: Glasgow Sunday Mail, June 15, 1997; The People, June 15, 1997)
- Thus, the IBF title was declared vacant.
- Immediately after this fight, Michalczewski also was stripped by the WBA for holding the WBO belt together with the WBA belt. (Cyber Boxing Zone)

I know that boxrec isn't always correct. For instance you can read that Roy Jones tested positive for Andro after the Hall fight, which is a misleading info. Jones tested positive for a steroid. The type was never disclosed. Jones said it was Andro, but since he is a part of the issue he cannot be looked upon as unbiased.

[IMDAZED]

No in general. Jones walks away from huge paydays at Heavyweight to move back down and fight Tarver. Strange decision. All the while, one of the biggest scandals in sports history is going down. And Roy looks like **** in his subsequent fights.

Right but he wasn't in any way connected.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Right but he wasn't in any way connected.

I never said he was connected.

[BattlingNelson]

I never said he was connected.

Your post made the connection though. Hence IMDAZED's comment....

[IMDAZED]

I never said he was connected.

You made the connection. You said it's strange how he fell off when the Balco scandal broke. I'm pretty sure a lot of things occurred around then. The sun going down, etc. Just pointing out that he wasn't connected.

[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.

From DM's wiki page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dariusz_Michalczewski

[IMDAZED]

This is what boxrec writes:



I know that boxrec isn't always correct. For instance you can read that Roy Jones tested positive for Andro after the Hall fight, which is a misleading info. Jones tested positive for a steroid. The type was never disclosed. Jones said it was Andro, but since he is a part of the issue he cannot be looked upon as unbiased.

The first part sounds right - another typical promoter beef. Admittedly, I don't recall what happened there. I do recall the WBA asking Michalzewski to defend against their mandatory and he opting to defend the WBO mandatory instead. So they stripped him.

And you're right about Andro. I don't believe they ever divulged what Jones and Hall tested positive for.