MississippiRed
01-24-2006, 01:40 PM
Well hell......I'll say it again I can't stand promoters......here's the lowdown fight fans..what yall think..
"An opponent and date have been confirmed for Jermain Taylor’s next fight. The only thing left to choose is a location.
Lou DiBella, Taylor’s trainer, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Monday that Little Rock’s Taylor, the middleweight world champion, will fight Australian Sam Soliman on April 15. The championship fight will take place on regular HBO, not pay-perview.
Sources said the fight will either take place in Memphis or at Alltel Arena in North Little Rock, and whichever city did not host the fight would host a Taylor fight card later in 2006.
Dan Goosen, Soliman’s promoter, was unavailable for comment Monday night.
DiBella also confirmed that the undercard will feature a televised junior middleweight bout between two-time former welterweight champion Vernon Forrest and former welterweight champion Ike Quartey.
Soliman (31-8-0, 12 KOs) last fought Dec. 10, losing by unanimous decision to Winky Wright, a week after Taylor retained his titles with a rematch victory over Bernard Hopkins.
There were serious talks of Taylor fighting Wright after the WBC, the sanctioning body of one of Taylor’s three belts, ordered negotiations between the two fighters.
DiBella broke off negotiations with Gary Shaw, Wright’s promoter, after Shaw demanded a 50/50 split of a Taylor-Wright middleweight title fight, turning down DiBella’s offer of 60/40 favoring Taylor.
Negotiations have not resumed, and the WBC will hold a purse bid Jan. 30. The winner of the purse bid will hold the right to promote a fight between Taylor and Wright, the WBC’s No. 1 contender. DiBella has previously said that Taylor will not fight Wright if Shaw wins the purse bid and controls 100 percent of the promotion.
The WBC has said it will strip Taylor of the WBC belt if Taylor did not agree to fight Wright, although DiBella said he is in contact with the WBC about possible alternatives. Taylor has said that he “loves his belts” and doesn’t want to give them up. Taylor also said he has no objections to fighting Wright later in
50 2006, just not for a /50 split.
DiBella would not confirm nor deny anything regarding the purse bid, including whether he would place a bid, other than to say Taylor will not fight under Shaw’s rules, which would include bringing the fight to Wright’s hometown of Tampa, Fla.
With the chance of fighting Wright in early 2006 gone, Di-Bella said he wanted to make the next best fight that would interest the public and HBO.
In his loss to Wright, Soliman, 32 broke his own CompuBox middleweight record, throwing 1,260 punches, averaging 105 per round or twice the middleweight average. He also broke his own power-punch record Dec. 10, throwing 927 nonjabs.
1
Soliman, 5-8 /2, landed only 174 punches (14 percent) in the loss but had fans cheering for him and his seemingly nonstop energy after the final bell. Soliman had won 17 consecutive fights before losing to Wright, mainly in Australia."
MississippiRed
"An opponent and date have been confirmed for Jermain Taylor’s next fight. The only thing left to choose is a location.
Lou DiBella, Taylor’s trainer, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Monday that Little Rock’s Taylor, the middleweight world champion, will fight Australian Sam Soliman on April 15. The championship fight will take place on regular HBO, not pay-perview.
Sources said the fight will either take place in Memphis or at Alltel Arena in North Little Rock, and whichever city did not host the fight would host a Taylor fight card later in 2006.
Dan Goosen, Soliman’s promoter, was unavailable for comment Monday night.
DiBella also confirmed that the undercard will feature a televised junior middleweight bout between two-time former welterweight champion Vernon Forrest and former welterweight champion Ike Quartey.
Soliman (31-8-0, 12 KOs) last fought Dec. 10, losing by unanimous decision to Winky Wright, a week after Taylor retained his titles with a rematch victory over Bernard Hopkins.
There were serious talks of Taylor fighting Wright after the WBC, the sanctioning body of one of Taylor’s three belts, ordered negotiations between the two fighters.
DiBella broke off negotiations with Gary Shaw, Wright’s promoter, after Shaw demanded a 50/50 split of a Taylor-Wright middleweight title fight, turning down DiBella’s offer of 60/40 favoring Taylor.
Negotiations have not resumed, and the WBC will hold a purse bid Jan. 30. The winner of the purse bid will hold the right to promote a fight between Taylor and Wright, the WBC’s No. 1 contender. DiBella has previously said that Taylor will not fight Wright if Shaw wins the purse bid and controls 100 percent of the promotion.
The WBC has said it will strip Taylor of the WBC belt if Taylor did not agree to fight Wright, although DiBella said he is in contact with the WBC about possible alternatives. Taylor has said that he “loves his belts” and doesn’t want to give them up. Taylor also said he has no objections to fighting Wright later in
50 2006, just not for a /50 split.
DiBella would not confirm nor deny anything regarding the purse bid, including whether he would place a bid, other than to say Taylor will not fight under Shaw’s rules, which would include bringing the fight to Wright’s hometown of Tampa, Fla.
With the chance of fighting Wright in early 2006 gone, Di-Bella said he wanted to make the next best fight that would interest the public and HBO.
In his loss to Wright, Soliman, 32 broke his own CompuBox middleweight record, throwing 1,260 punches, averaging 105 per round or twice the middleweight average. He also broke his own power-punch record Dec. 10, throwing 927 nonjabs.
1
Soliman, 5-8 /2, landed only 174 punches (14 percent) in the loss but had fans cheering for him and his seemingly nonstop energy after the final bell. Soliman had won 17 consecutive fights before losing to Wright, mainly in Australia."
MississippiRed