Magee decides not to challenge Paul Smith

Disappointed in Magee. It's a good fight to make.

 

I was looking forward to this, shame it's not being made. Magee gonna go after Stieglitz?

 

Shame this, I'm sure Smith and Magee will be in a race for Steiglitz now. Wonder if Degale will pushed by Frank to face Smith now he's in 'championship class'...

 

Magees team hit back. Via Boxrec News

[url]http://news.boxrec.com/news/2010/team-magee-hit-back-smith-saga[/url]

Brian Magee’s team has refuted suggestions that they are deliberately avoiding a duel-title showdown with domestic rival Paul Smith. Reigning European super-middleweight champion Magee withdrew from purse bids on Wednesday (9 June) to challenge for Smith’s British crown, much to the irritation of Smith’s promoter Frank Warren who commented: “We are trying to make the big fights the fans want to see, but it's a big let-down when after months of negotiating leads to nothing it heads to purse bids and then they pull out on the day…"

In direct response to Warren’s comments, Brian’s manager Pat Magee (no relation) told BoxRec News: “We have been discussing the possibility of boxing Paul Smith on-and-off for a while but our decision is based on what we feel is the right thing for Brian. In the early stages of our negotiations with Frank Warren we discussed the possibility of the fight being made for the British and European titles”

“We also explored whether we could get it approved as a world title eliminator, possibly for the WBO title, as Smith was ranked as high as 3 with the WBO at the time. An eliminator to challenge WBA champion Dimitry Sartison could also have been another route to pursue.”

“Frank offered Brian a five-fight deal but we rejected it because we didn’t want to tie Brian down (Magee turned 35 this week). We also asked for the fight to be held in Belfast but Frank told us that it was SKY’s decision as to where it would ultimately take place,” continued Magee.

With talks appearing to have reached a stalemate, dialogue between both camps was re-established when Frank Warren’s matchmaker Dean Powell approached Team Magee about the possibility of Brian appearing on a forthcoming Warren bill.

“Dean asked us whether we’d be interested in defending the European title on Frank’s 3 July show in Preston in place of the Michael Jennings – John O’Donnell fight. We said ‘yes’ as long as it was against Smith and just a one-off deal. Unfortunately Dean said that Smith wouldn’t be ready to fight on 3 July so we declined.”

According to a statement released from Warren’s press office on Wednesday, Magee was offered the opportunity to fight Smith on the alternative date of 17 July but, disappointingly, both fighters now seem destined to head in alternative directions following this week’s events.

“The Smith fight isn’t as attractive as what it was previously. Smith has potentially far more to gain than Brian in the European title whereas we’d only be gaining the British title, a championship that Brian previously vacated. Smith’s ranking with the WBO has also slipped from 3 to 6 (Magee is WBO 14) so it’s unlikely that the fight would be sanctioned by the WBO as a world title eliminator,” speculated Magee.

“Had we entered into purse bids the money would have been divided 50-50 and we feel that terms should be split 60-40 in Brian’s favour. Whichever promoter won the bids would have had until 31 October to stage the fight and we didn’t want to take a chance on Brian being kept waiting that long and being tied contractually,” added Magee.

“We went to great lengths to strike a private deal with Pat Magee to avoid a scenario where the fight would have to go to purse bids. Had we known that they were going to pull out of the bids at the last minute then we could have lined something else up for Paul. Fighters are not like machines, you can’t just turn them on and off, and Pat Magee was made aware that Paul wouldn’t be ready to fight Brian on 3 July,” countered Dean Powell to BoxRec News.

“We felt we made Magee a favourable offer which would have appealed to him given the fact that his career has been hampered by inactivity before. Had Magee have beaten Paul Smith, Frank Warren would then have pursued a world title shot for him,” added Powell.

With a line now seemingly being drawn in the sand in the Magee-Smith saga, the Irishman is now looking to capitalise on his fantastic stoppage victory over Mads Larsen in Denmark in January which saw Magee capture the vacant European super-middleweight title. Magee’s impressive seventh round triumph has catapulted him up to fifth in the WBA’s latest rankings and placed him firmly in contention for a world title shot.

“WBA champion Dimitri Sartison is overdue a mandatory title defence. The number one contender’s position is currently unoccupied, Jean Paul Mendy (from France) is ranked two, and then you have Andre Dirrell and Allan Green who are both currently taking part in the Super Six tournament. Brian is the next highest ranked contender so we will be doing our best to push him forward now,” confirmed Pat Magee.

 

please team magee go after the WBO title, the WBA 'germany based' world title, its utter bull**** waste of time. andre ward is the wba champ

 

isnt the WBO champ german??

 

I wouldn't usually encourage a fighter to enter into a five fight deal, but in Magee's case it certainly makes sound sense, at least at face value.

He's 35, hasn't been particularly active.... take the fight with Smith, win or lose (probably win) he'd have four more fights, one of those would probably be for a title of some sort.

Unless the terms weren't right..... seems like the most obvious answer.

 

Time for Smiths vs Groves!