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From http://www.secondsout.com/USA/news.cfm?ccs=229&cs=53738
Jerry Glick reporting:
After spending time in Biloxi watching Andre Berto squeak by Luis Collazo promoter Lou DiBella arrived back in New York City and graciously talked to Secondsout about the on again/off again situation concerning a proposed showdown between American Jermain Taylor, the former middleweight champion, and Britain’s Carl Froch. The fight would be for Froch’s WBC super-middleweight belt for which Taylor is the mandatory challenger.
Talk of this prospective match has been ongoing for months and DiBella is losing confidence that it will ever come to pass.
“If you beat your chest,” said DiBella, “but you price yourself out; do you really want it?”
DiBella spoke like a man who has shopped around to get a fix on the situation. In fact that is not only true, but DiBella has been doing his homework for more years than I know of. He has assessed the value of all the scenarios that could happen at this time for Taylor.
“I think the kid himself, Froch, wants the fight, but they want economics that don’t exist,“ said DiBella. “HBO turned down the fight because Froch has no name recognition. The only network that would take the fight is SHOWTIME and they told me to move on.”
Lou does not believe that Froch has Pay-Per-View value in the US, nor does he feel he is a PPV attraction in England either.
DiBella claims that he made an offer to Froch’s promoter, Mick Hennessey, last week but has not received an answer to it yet. He noted at late afternoon, England time, that because they are close to the end of the business day, it doesn’t look as though there will, at this time, be a Taylor-Froch fight.
“Unless something dramatic happens in the next couple of hours the fights not going to happen. Jermain really wanted to fight Froch,” added a resigned DiBella. “He really wanted the WBC belt, but if you can’t make a deal, you can’t make a deal. If you can’t make deal now, putting your cards on the table, there’s no sense going to a purse bid,” explained Lou.
There are other choices but none of them are as attractive as a fight with Froch. Allen Green is a possibility but he is a high risk. “You don’t get a belt, and he’s a high risk opponent; I think it would be disappointing, but at the same time, Jermain’s a fighter and he wants to fight. He wants to continue to prove himself at 68 and we’re going to make another fight.”
Then there’s Bute; “We reached out to Bute,” said DiBella. “He’s not available.”
There’s Kessler, but DiBella finds that to be problematic.
“Kessler would probably do the fight,” said DiBella. “But the last time Kessler was on American television he got beaten soundly.” He sees Kessler as another economic issue as well. He does not believe that the risk involved with fighting a tough guy like Kessler who is at the top of the super-middleweights now with the departure of Calzaghe, is warranted for the amount of money that Taylor would make for participating in such a fight.
In boxing anything can happen and anything is often what does happen. So wait, the Froch fight may still happen.
After spending time in Biloxi watching Andre Berto squeak by Luis Collazo promoter Lou DiBella arrived back in New York City and graciously talked to Secondsout about the on again/off again situation concerning a proposed showdown between American Jermain Taylor, the former middleweight champion, and Britain’s Carl Froch. The fight would be for Froch’s WBC super-middleweight belt for which Taylor is the mandatory challenger.
Talk of this prospective match has been ongoing for months and DiBella is losing confidence that it will ever come to pass.
“If you beat your chest,” said DiBella, “but you price yourself out; do you really want it?”
DiBella spoke like a man who has shopped around to get a fix on the situation. In fact that is not only true, but DiBella has been doing his homework for more years than I know of. He has assessed the value of all the scenarios that could happen at this time for Taylor.
“I think the kid himself, Froch, wants the fight, but they want economics that don’t exist,“ said DiBella. “HBO turned down the fight because Froch has no name recognition. The only network that would take the fight is SHOWTIME and they told me to move on.”
Lou does not believe that Froch has Pay-Per-View value in the US, nor does he feel he is a PPV attraction in England either.
DiBella claims that he made an offer to Froch’s promoter, Mick Hennessey, last week but has not received an answer to it yet. He noted at late afternoon, England time, that because they are close to the end of the business day, it doesn’t look as though there will, at this time, be a Taylor-Froch fight.
“Unless something dramatic happens in the next couple of hours the fights not going to happen. Jermain really wanted to fight Froch,” added a resigned DiBella. “He really wanted the WBC belt, but if you can’t make a deal, you can’t make a deal. If you can’t make deal now, putting your cards on the table, there’s no sense going to a purse bid,” explained Lou.
There are other choices but none of them are as attractive as a fight with Froch. Allen Green is a possibility but he is a high risk. “You don’t get a belt, and he’s a high risk opponent; I think it would be disappointing, but at the same time, Jermain’s a fighter and he wants to fight. He wants to continue to prove himself at 68 and we’re going to make another fight.”
Then there’s Bute; “We reached out to Bute,” said DiBella. “He’s not available.”
There’s Kessler, but DiBella finds that to be problematic.
“Kessler would probably do the fight,” said DiBella. “But the last time Kessler was on American television he got beaten soundly.” He sees Kessler as another economic issue as well. He does not believe that the risk involved with fighting a tough guy like Kessler who is at the top of the super-middleweights now with the departure of Calzaghe, is warranted for the amount of money that Taylor would make for participating in such a fight.
In boxing anything can happen and anything is often what does happen. So wait, the Froch fight may still happen.
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