Did RJJ duck Michalczewski?

Every 2-3 months, this topic gets brought up.

My take? No, he didn't.

Dariusz was every bit as culpable in this fight not happening.

Everyone asks the question "Did RJJ duck Dariusz", like DM was straining at the leash to go to America and fight RJJ

 

They both happily ducked each other. Neither wanted to travel, both were making good money in their own markets, it was a fight that didn't make much financial sense as it was all risk, with not much extra reward and unfortunately business trumped desire and legacy here.

 

Not really. No-one took the WBO belt that seriously back then.

Roy was unified champ & was intent on making the mandatories, not picking up a worthless trinket.

From memory those blokes who fought out of Germany at the time liked staying at home & enjoying the home cooking.

 

think this through - is AJ ducking IBC champion Hector Ferryro? umm.

To his credit, Darius did a lot more than Hector, he even briefly won other titles. Theres even a good win or two on his resume. He had the lineal too.


noeone was interested in the WBO back in the 90s, it was unrecognised and practically worthless...like the WBF or ICB belts are unheard of today and totally disrespected. At best, back then any good boxers with wbo belts moved on fast, or tried to win other belts in any way they could manage without the WBO vetoing it.

That might well be why when all the big organisations moved to Sky/satellite instead of terrestrial tv in the early 90s, the WBO took advantage by administering its belts around terrestrial channels in europe, and all of a sudden we got wbo reigns in britain all over the place. Sky etc by their absence, created a market for the WBO to thrive in, and "poorer" people robbed of major title boxing were grateful for triumvates likes the Benn-Eubank-Watson axis that we got, however poorly run they were.

With some luck, there wont be idiots 10 years from now asking "did AJ duck Hector Ferryra?"

 

Neither Roy nor Dariusz wanted to give up their advantages pertaining to a serious attempt
at negotiations. They were both quite content with euro-stepping
around each other (pun intended).

 

Yes

 

This has been done to death.

No he didn't.

Not wanting to fight Dariusz in Germany doesn't constitute as a duck.

 

How's it going mate?

This topic never seems to rest.

I believe that Roy would gladly have fought him in the U.S.

 

One of the most shameless, arrogance driven ducks of all time and both were at fault

Would have been a great fight

 

It's really not as simple as the above.

Yes, Dariusz beat Hill first. He legitimately won the WBA and the IBF belts. Yes, he was stripped of those titles. But I refuse to believe that Dariusz and his promoter/manager, Klaus Peter Kohl, wasn't aware that those Org's had a ruling in place where they didn't recognise the WBO. It would have been impossible, especially as the WBO was founded by ex members of the WBA. I also believe that Kohl was affiliated with the WBO in some capacity.

This topic has been to death. But when it comes up for discussion, hardly anyone mentions the fact that maybe Dariusz could have kept those titles, had he have dropped his WBO title immediately after the Hill fight. In my honest opinion, he didn't seem at all fazed by being stripped.

The other thing what nobody mentions, is the fact that Dariusz deliberately feigned injury in order to get Graciano Rocchigianni disqualified in their first fight. If you'd seen that, you'd realise that it was an absolute disgrace. It was cringeworthy. And seeing as though Roy had also been robbed in the Seoul Olympics, he shouldn't at all be criticised for not having gone to Germany to put his 3 belts on the line to face a guy who was capable of doing that. So it was nothing to do with Roy not wanting to lower himself.

 

Kerry Davis of HBO, is on record stating that along with Roy's advisors, they did all they could to try and negotiate for the fight.

Roy would have fought him in the U.S.

When the fight couldn't be made, he turned his attentions to a rematch with Bernard Hopkins. But Bernard demanded $10m or no fight.

Roy then fought Ruiz and Tarver, whilst Dariusz continued to defend his WBO belt against C class opposition.

 

On what grounds?

That he wouldn't go to Germany?