Did RJJ duck Michalczewski?

They were established on 2 different markets, and neither side was willing to travel without being significantly "overpaid".

Dariusz was "the man", undefeated lineal, WBO and ex-unified champ who lost most of his titles due to governing bodies' manipulations.

Roy Jones picked up those belts (either vacant or by beating paper champs) and was repeatedly announced as "undisputed" by the HBO.

There was no neutral location that brought the necessary income at the time.

 

Roy generally performed better against their common opponents and fought them first.

 

On what grounds?

 

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Dariuz was more obligated to go to the States than the other way around. He also needed Roy more than Roy needed him.


His German promoters wanted him at home racking up defenses and had no interest in sending him to America.
He had to be willing to go stateside if he really wanted the fight , just like Sturm done with Hoya and like he was going to do with Pavlik before he pulled out.
Hoya and Pavlik were never going to Germany to fight Sturm. He had to go to them , thats just the way it was.
Calzaghe , Hatton , Khan , Lewis , Froch , Abraham etc etc ...if you want to fight the Americans names - you go to America.
If you wanted to fight Klitschko during his reign , you had to go to Germany.

Look at Steve Collins , thats a guy who wanted to fight Roy. DM probably wanted to fight Roy too , but his handlers wouldn't allow it.

 

Lol. You are the best.

 

Duck is a bit too strong. RJJ was looking for big paydays and Michaelczewski was unwilling to come to the US. I recall the Tiger's promoter made a $10 million offer to RJJ to fight in Germany but that probably included options so RJJ passed -- understandably so.

At the end of the day these were two fighters who lived in different world and were comfortable where they were. They didn't feel they 'needed one another' IMO.

Funny thing: I recall a photo in a boxing magazine of Michaelczewski sparring and he had a black shirt on with the text "Who the f*** is Roy Jones Jr.?" as he got tired of the recurring theme of questions by reporters

 

Oh this old chestnut lol

 

Blame: 70% Michalczewski / 30% Jones.

Michalczewski was content to be a WBO champ and meanwhile he considered himself Jones equal. Therein lies the big problem. The truth is Jones had all the other belts, far more name recognition, network support, more bargaining power and all in all brought much, much more to the table.

The upside for Michalczewski if the fight took place was huge. If he had won or even lost a close fight his legacy would be light years ahead of where it is today.

And at the time, I thought Michalczewski could have beaten Jones and at the minimum taken him into never-before-seen troubled waters. But we will never know and the very fact that Michalczewski didn't do everything in his power to make the fight makes me question my belief he would have won.