I have read an article, and I also heard during the Williams Wright fight mentioned by Merchant that Williams turned down a fight with The Ghost. Now, I don't really remember this happening. I do remember Kelly saying that he didn't want to fight Paul because everyone would just say he beat up a blown up middle weight. Can anyone clarify this for me?
I could, But who cares man? Lets just hope that they fight, now that PW seems worthy and comfortable at middleweight.
After Pavlik blew Lockett out, and Joe Calzaghe refused to fight the very man he spent 5-6 months calling out, there was a scramble for a fall 2008 opponent for Kelly. It was already clear that Rubio would be the WBC mandatory, but HBO would not buy the fight. Arum offered to do the Top Rank PPV they ended up doing in February 2009 in fall 2008, but KP ask Arum to find something that would pay more. During the time they were looking for a fall opponent, Arum struck a deal with Goosen for a fight with Williams. Pav did not want to fight Williams, but he was willing to do it. He even started training for PW. At this point Arum and Goosen have two different stories, but it was some kind of dispute over money that stopped the fight. That's when Hopkins stepped up, and the rest is history.
:good- Very nice and diplomatic answer. I am somewhat surpirsed at your objectivity on this one. Of course, like we have stated to each other before. We probably have differing opinions on what happened based on which fighter we want to believe. But there is one fact that is undeniable: Paul and Kelly were both personally willing to get in the ring. The rest is Promoter vs. Promoter bull**** that has no place in Boxing.
Pavlik should fight him, money aside. It's an easier win than some of the other fights out there and it would get quite a bit of credit.
Diplomatic? I see no reason to get into a pissin' match over which liar lied on this particular occasion.
:good Yep. First it was "Who lied about the Margarito situation?" now it's "WHo's lying about KP vs. PW?" I personally think both of them are full of ****.
The Margo situation is physically documented - Goosen offered $4M for a rematch, and Arum turned it down because he said he refused to deal with Goosen after what happened with Pavlik. There's a good chance that it was a bull**** offer because he knew Arum would turn it down no matter how high the dollar figures were, but it's documented on paper. Kevin Iole actually published a .pdf of the response letter from Arum.
