Why didn't Dariusz Michalczewski & RJJ ever fight?

[richardt]

It is also known that Jones made 5 mill per fight starting with the Hill fight: Hill earned $1 million, and Jones received $4 million, including a $500,000 bonus for having extended his contract with HBO. But it comes down to both fighters egos and not wanting to budge. It was Pac/Mayweather of that era when it comes to 2 guys who couldn't make a fight.

[bose]

Roy may have been scared of being robbed but when Julio Gonzalez went over there he got his hand raised. Lets not start the triangle theories, they don't always work in boxing.

Roy didn't want to go anywhere in Europe to fight any of the top Champions back in his prime days.

S. Collins
Darious Michalski
Joe Calzaghe...

[BattlingNelson]

But DM was given a chance on ESPN very early in the talks about a potential match with Jones and 1-2 years later on an HBO undercard of Jones and DM declined both. And in the talks where Universum was offering Jones 5 mill, they were giving DM 8-10 mill. Jones was willing to take 50/50 in Germany.

Do you have a source for the 8-10M for DM? That amount sounds unbelieveable.

[Cyberspace]

If they did fight does anyone doubt Jones would have won?

[BattlingNelson]

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.

Well said.

Yeah DM was the linear champion. RJJ was a beltholder.

[Weebler I]

Jones stated time and time again that he wouldn't fight in Germany, stating it would take $20 - $25 million to get him to go over there

Ah well, karma now has Jones (like Toney/Mosley) as a known drug cheat who now begs for much smaller paydays to get KO'd all over Europe.

[robertzimmerman]

Roy may have been scared of being robbed but when Julio Gonzalez went over there he got his hand raised. Lets not start the triangle theories, they don't always work in boxing.

Roy didn't want to go anywhere in Europe to fight any of the top Champions back in his prime days.

S. Collins
Darious Michalski
Joe Calzaghe...

Collins and JC weren't big names in America.

[robertzimmerman]

Ah well, karma now has Jones (like Toney/Mosley) as a known drug cheat who now begs for much smaller paydays to get KO'd all over Europe.

Roy's circumstances have changed. He didn't need to travel back then. He had everything at home. He had all the belts and was considered the best fighter in the world. Also, nobody knows if he was a drugs cheat, and if he was, how long for. I wouldn't put him in the same bracket as Mosley.

[BattlingNelson]

Roy's circumstances have changed. He didn't need to travel back then. He had everything at home. He had all the belts and was considered the best fighter in the world. Also, nobody knows if he was a drugs cheat, and if he was, how long for. I wouldn't put him in the same bracket as Mosley.

Except the lineal championship.

[RubenSonny]

Michalczewski was average, he has been overhyped so much.