Why did Dariusz Michalczewski vs Roy Jones Jr not happen?

[IMDAZED]

If anyone had a reason to want Roy to fight Micalczewski it was HBO. They had built Roy up into a star but at 175 he had no opponent who could take him to the next level. Or one dangerous enough to intrigue fans. Dariusz was the closest thing to the latter.

HBO stepping in back in 2001-2002 was a sign that they, and Jones, were very serious about the fight. And for whatever reason, they couldn't get Kohl to come to the table. When that and the Hopkins fight didn't materialize, Jones had no choice but to move further up and fight a heavyweight.

[robertzimmerman]

what about Steve Collins? Now imo Jones would have smashed collins to absolute bits. But it doesn't change the fact that he seemed to duck him.

You've got to give Steve credit. He really wanted Roy. He was desperate for him. I have so much respect for him.

Did Roy duck him? Not in the sense that he feared him in my opinion. I think there's a difference between ducking someone and dismissing someone.

There were two instances where they could possibly have fought, 1996 and 1999.

96 -

Before Roy's fight with Bryant Brannon in October, he conducted a live, in the ring question and answer session, that was broadcast by HBO. He stated the difficulty he'd had in securing a big SMW fight. He said that his promoters had offered 7 figure sums to Frankie Liles, Nigel Benn, Vincenzo Nardiello and Steve Collins, and that nobody had accepted.

I've never heard Collins' response to that, but Frankie Liles's manager Jack O'Halloran, did confirm that Frankie had turned down a great opportunity to fight Roy, by demanding more money, even though it would have been his biggest pay day at that point.

The other thing to note, is that Collins only held the lightly regarded WBO belt. So in my opinion, unless a Collins fight would have brought in huge money, there wasn't much point in fighting him, if he couldn't have obtained the WBA belt that Liles had, or the WBC that Benn/Nardiello had. If those fights couldn't have been made, he couldn't have unified the division. So I believe that's why he went up to the LHW division.

Below is the question and answer session just prior to the Brannon fight:

http://********/4TPjvtASn0c


99 -

After Roy's mandatory fight against Rick Frazier, Collins got in the ring and challenged him, and Larry Merchant ripped into Roy because HBO had televised a mismatch. Which in my opinion, was grossly unfair, because HBO had agreed to televise any fights within his contract, that included mandatory defences. And it wasn't Roy's fault if the WBA deemed Frazier as their number 1 challenger.

From a few articles that I read a few years ago, after the Frazier fight, Roy's promoter/advisor - Stanley Levin, asked Roy if he wanted the fight. And Roy told him to go ahead and make it. But what seemed to have happened, is that Roy's other advisor - Murrad Muhammad (who'd recently joined Roy's team) told Roy to scrap the idea, as they had an opportunity to unify the titles against Reggie Johnson. Now it didn't specifically say that in the article that I read, but reading between the lines, I think that's how it went down. Stanley Levin wasn't at all happy, because he'd started negotiations with Collins' team. So that was unfair, but it was also understandable. Collins hadn't fought for almost two years, and he'd never fought at LHW. So a unification fight against Reggie, was obviously a bigger fight at the time. Also, when Lou DiBella worked for HBO, he stated that he preferred a Reggie Johnson fight for Roy, but would have welcomed a fight between Collins and Joe Calzaghe, with the winner potentially going on to fight Roy at some point. But that never happened. Collins had no desire to fight Calzaghe, and in the end, after a few injury scares, he decided to retire.

I think it's a real shame that we never got to see them fight. But in my honest opinion, under different circumstances, Roy would have fought him. Roy had no need to fear anybody back then.

Below is the article featuring the comments of Lou DiBella:

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/BOXING......-a060396114

[robertzimmerman]

If anyone had a reason to want Roy to fight Micalczewski it was HBO. They had built Roy up into a star but at 175 he had no opponent who could take him to the next level. Or one dangerous enough to intrigue fans. Dariusz was the closest thing to the latter.

HBO stepping in back in 2001-2002 was a sign that they, and Jones, were very serious about the fight. And for whatever reason, they couldn't get Kohl to come to the table. When that and the Hopkins fight didn't materialize, Jones had no choice but to move further up and fight a heavyweight.

Great post.

[imperial1]

I followed the situation over the years VERY closely!

Little known facts:

1. Murad Muhammad went to Germany to negotiate a fight in Germany between the two and DM's promoter and Universum head Klaus Peter Kohl wanted to pay DM double what they were offering Jones. Jones was being offered the usual 5Mill he normally makes, DM was to get either 8Mill or 10Mill.

2. DM was scheduled to fight Telesco on ESPN to build his brand in the US and Marty Mulcahy even showed the scheduling of the fight on his fight schedule on fight news dot com. DM pulled out because there was not enough money. This was during the time when Telesco was on a major role.

3. DM was offered a co main event on HBO but declined due to the money.

4. Klaus Peter Kohl was often unavailable for phone calls, this fact was documented through research by fight news dot com.

An article:


In 2001, Roy's advisor Brad Jacobs, met with Kerry Davis VP for HBO, and they tried desperately to make the fight.

Peter Kohl who was DM's advisor was never available to sit down and discuss terms. He was also never available via phone, and he wouldn't even name a figure to get the ball rolling.

HBO also proposed the idea of a double header to hype the fight. A lot of U.S. fans had hardly seen DM fight, so HBO wanted to put both fighters on the same bill, to stir interest in a fight.

This was turned down by Kohl.

If DM and Kohl had've been serious about a fight, they never would have turned down that opportunity.

Murad Muhammad gave an interview in 2003, and he said that DM was asking for a $6M purse, and he was making between $1-1.5M per fight in Germany.

According to a recent interview with Roy from last June, HBO actually offered him DM $5M, and he turned it down.

All you have to do, is go and look at DM's resume, to see how serious he was about fighting the likes of Roy, Tarver and Harding etc. He never left his comfort zone in Germany. He was happy defending his WBO belt for decent money against C class fighters, some of which had already been beaten easily by Roy.

If DM and Kohl had wanted Roy bad enough, they'd have agreed to the double header, which was a great idea, and then afterwards they'd have fought Roy.

Instead they turned down the opportunity to fight Hall, Harmon and De Grandis.

That's how bad they wanted Roy.

They turned down $5M for Roy, to fight Joey De Grandis for $1-1.5M.

DM was all talk. His resume tells you what his intentions were. The best fighter in the world shouldn't have had to have gone to Germany in 2001.

^^^^^


This !!

[MrRolltide91]

If anyone had a reason to want Roy to fight Micalczewski it was HBO. They had built Roy up into a star but at 175 he had no opponent who could take him to the next level. Or one dangerous enough to intrigue fans. Dariusz was the closest thing to the latter.

HBO stepping in back in 2001-2002 was a sign that they, and Jones, were very serious about the fight. And for whatever reason, they couldn't get Kohl to come to the table. When that and the Hopkins fight didn't materialize, Jones had no choice but to move further up and fight a heavyweight.

good post...

[MrRolltide91]

I think it would have been on regular HBO if Dariusz had've gone to the U.S. but I'm not certain.

They never got to the stage where the specifics were discussed.

thanks......

[MrRolltide91]

Don't put words in my mouth! I never said DM was an unknown! He called out Roy on HBO and that is when the pressure mounted for a fight between the two. And you asked where HBO was going to get 10 mill. They paid 5 mill a fight for Roy to fight contenders and was willing to pay DM handsomely and tried to make the fight because of all the backlash against both fighters just like the may-pac situation. HBO did everything they could to make the fight. Everyone who followed the situation knows that Peter Kohl received phone calls from HBO and Square Ring Inc and did not return the calls. Look, it is obvious you never followed the events of the day or you would know that HBO made the offer, this is a known fact. I followed every single article that was released about the potential fight. Dibella was with HBO when negotiations took place. Give him a call if you want to know the full story.

what fight was that?

[MrRolltide91]

You've got to give Steve credit. He really wanted Roy. He was desperate for him. I have so much respect for him.

Did Roy duck him? Not in the sense that he feared him in my opinion. I think there's a difference between ducking someone and dismissing someone.

There were two instances where they could possibly have fought, 1996 and 1999.

96 -

Before Roy's fight with Bryant Brannon in October, he conducted a live, in the ring question and answer session, that was broadcast by HBO. He stated the difficulty he'd had in securing a big SMW fight. He said that his promoters had offered 7 figure sums to Frankie Liles, Nigel Benn, Vincenzo Nardiello and Steve Collins, and that nobody had accepted.

I've never heard Collins' response to that, but Frankie Liles's manager Jack O'Halloran, did confirm that Frankie had turned down a great opportunity to fight Roy, by demanding more money, even though it would have been his biggest pay day at that point.

The other thing to note, is that Collins only held the lightly regarded WBO belt. So in my opinion, unless a Collins fight would have brought in huge money, there wasn't much point in fighting him, if he couldn't have obtained the WBA belt that Liles had, or the WBC that Benn/Nardiello had. If those fights couldn't have been made, he couldn't have unified the division. So I believe that's why he went up to the LHW division.

Below is the question and answer session just prior to the Brannon fight:

http://********/4TPjvtASn0c


99 -

After Roy's mandatory fight against Rick Frazier, Collins got in the ring and challenged him, and Larry Merchant ripped into Roy because HBO had televised a mismatch. Which in my opinion, was grossly unfair, because HBO had agreed to televise any fights within his contract, that included mandatory defences. And it wasn't Roy's fault if the WBA deemed Frazier as their number 1 challenger.

From a few articles that I read a few years ago, after the Frazier fight, Roy's promoter/advisor - Stanley Levin, asked Roy if he wanted the fight. And Roy told him to go ahead and make it. But what seemed to have happened, is that Roy's other advisor - Murrad Muhammad (who'd recently joined Roy's team) told Roy to scrap the idea, as they had an opportunity to unify the titles against Reggie Johnson. Now it didn't specifically say that in the article that I read, but reading between the lines, I think that's how it went down. Stanley Levin wasn't at all happy, because he'd started negotiations with Collins' team. So that was unfair, but it was also understandable. Collins hadn't fought for almost two years, and he'd never fought at LHW. So a unification fight against Reggie, was obviously a bigger fight at the time. Also, when Lou DiBella worked for HBO, he stated that he preferred a Reggie Johnson fight for Roy, but would have welcomed a fight between Collins and Joe Calzaghe, with the winner potentially going on to fight Roy at some point. But that never happened. Collins had no desire to fight Calzaghe, and in the end, after a few injury scares, he decided to retire.

I think it's a real shame that we never got to see them fight. But in my honest opinion, under different circumstances, Roy would have fought him. Roy had no need to fear anybody back then.

Below is the article featuring the comments of Lou DiBella:

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/BOXING......-a060396114

good info...

[Larry the boss]

I followed the situation over the years VERY closely!

Little known facts:

1. Murad Muhammad went to Germany to negotiate a fight in Germany between the two and DM's promoter and Universum head Klaus Peter Kohl wanted to pay DM double what they were offering Jones. Jones was being offered the usual 5Mill he normally makes, DM was to get either 8Mill or 10Mill.

2. DM was scheduled to fight Telesco on ESPN to build his brand in the US and Marty Mulcahy even showed the scheduling of the fight on his fight schedule on fight news dot com. DM pulled out because there was not enough money. This was during the time when Telesco was on a major role.

3. DM was offered a co main event on HBO but declined due to the money.

4. Klaus Peter Kohl was often unavailable for phone calls, this fact was documented through research by fight news dot com.

An article:


In 2001, Roy's advisor Brad Jacobs, met with Kerry Davis VP for HBO, and they tried desperately to make the fight.

Peter Kohl who was DM's advisor was never available to sit down and discuss terms. He was also never available via phone, and he wouldn't even name a figure to get the ball rolling.

HBO also proposed the idea of a double header to hype the fight. A lot of U.S. fans had hardly seen DM fight, so HBO wanted to put both fighters on the same bill, to stir interest in a fight.

This was turned down by Kohl.

If DM and Kohl had've been serious about a fight, they never would have turned down that opportunity.

Murad Muhammad gave an interview in 2003, and he said that DM was asking for a $6M purse, and he was making between $1-1.5M per fight in Germany.

According to a recent interview with Roy from last June, HBO actually offered him DM $5M, and he turned it down.

All you have to do, is go and look at DM's resume, to see how serious he was about fighting the likes of Roy, Tarver and Harding etc. He never left his comfort zone in Germany. He was happy defending his WBO belt for decent money against C class fighters, some of which had already been beaten easily by Roy.

If DM and Kohl had wanted Roy bad enough, they'd have agreed to the double header, which was a great idea, and then afterwards they'd have fought Roy.

Instead they turned down the opportunity to fight Hall, Harmon and De Grandis.

That's how bad they wanted Roy.

They turned down $5M for Roy, to fight Joey De Grandis for $1-1.5M.

DM was all talk. His resume tells you what his intentions were. The best fighter in the world shouldn't have had to have gone to Germany in 2001.

great post.....

[robertzimmerman]

good info...

Thank you.