Following the disappointing news that we won't witness David Price challenge Tyson Fury for the British and Commonwealth titles, one name crops up in the shape of Norwich bruiser Sam Sexton.
Not confirmed as of yet but the two men may fight it out for the vacant British heavyweight title.
The British Boxing Board of Control picked Sexton as a worthy opponent for Price after Tyson Fury left his British and Commonwealth belts in order to pursue a world title.
Liverpool's own Pricey had been rather patient when discussions were underway for the proposed title fight but he has become angered due to the decision of Team Fury.
Tyson won't face Liverpool lad even though David was the rightfull challenger after his destruction of John McDermott.
Sam Sexton will now fill the void in 6'8" David's mind after the BBBC decided he will be face Price for the vacant championship belts.
David voiced his anger on the Tyson Fury debacle: “I’m disappointed and I’m frustrated because the fight has been brewing for that long and he has had that much to say about me, but when the time comes he cops out,” Price was quoted saying.
“He is talking about the offers that were made but he would have got the biggest pay-day by letting the fight go to the purse bids.
“I was expecting more of Tyson Fury because I thought he was a fighting man, but he’s proved me wrong. He is a coward, no two ways about it.
“He says he is moving onto the next level but he has not got enough for the next level.”
Clearly, both parties see things differently, Team Fury promoter Mick Hennessy released the contents of the counter offer they tabled to Price and his promoter Frank Maloney after Team Price attempted to snap a deal up before the cut off time for purse bids from other promoters.
A payment of £100k was tabled for Price from Hennessy with £150k going to ex-champ Fury and the fight was due to be live on Channel Five.
Maloney rejected the deal on the grounds that he knew both champion and challenger could have been paid in the region of £400k, and Maloney has a deal with SKY television which has a greater audience than that of Channel Five.
“Fury has vacated his titles in pursuit of being a household name on his journey to become a heavyweight world champion,” said Hennessy. “We have a great schedule in place for Tyson on Channel 5 and I’m not prepared to have that affected by other promoters, purse bids of titles.”
Fury and his antics have angered both Price and Maloney, Tyson was due to pocket a nice £125k with Maloney tabled offer, Frank was quoted saying: “What he is doing is a disgrace to himself and a disgrace to boxing.
“We were offered £100,000 but knew the fight is worth more than that so we let it go to purse bids. And I can guarantee you Fury would have earned the biggest pay-day of his career from the purse bids.
“With my purse bid David would’ve got more than £100,000 and we know the value of this fight because it is the biggest fight in Britain since Lennox Lewis and Gary Mason. That fight went for £400,000 and I know some of the bids for this fight were around that figure.
“I offered Fury £125,000 initially but if he had let it go to purse bids then he would’ve earned a lot more and with the 60-40 split, Fury would have earned around £200,000, his biggest pay-day. All this talk of a world title fight is bulls***.”
So after a week or so of nail biting anticipation I can confirm I'm extremely disappointed with the outcome, I was looking forward to a cracking British heavyweight clash.
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john JEFFREY, EDINBURGH around 3 months, 2 weeks ago