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- Liam ‘Beefy’ Smith
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- Sugar Shane Mosley – pic by: AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Shane Mosley has withdrawn from negotiations to fight Liam Smith in December.
The fight could of been scheduled to take play on the undercard of the Lee Vs Saunders main event but the American’s reluctance to accept an immediate rematch clause is the reason for the potential bout to fall through.
The 44-year-old, a former three-weight world champion, had seemed to be in line to be Smith’s first voluntary defence since the Liverpool puncher won the WBO super-welterweight title – but talks have come to an end.
Mosley has been quoted as saying “It’s all good and I’m passing on the fight,”
“They don’t want to ink it without an immediate rematch and I don’t have time [to] lose focus on training negotiating a deal that won’t happen. These guys are scared and they made a bad decision.”
Mosley previously insisted that a commitment to fight in early 2016 meant that, should he beat Smith, he could not guarantee an immediate rematch because he already has another bigger fight lined up.
But he believes that his star power, garnered through a 18-year illustrious career in which he went toe to toe with Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao and beaten Oscar De La Hoya twice, means Smith should have been grateful to fight him on December 19 and sees it as a missed opportunity.
Sugar Shane went onto say “No one in the States was even talking about any of these guys until my name was brought up to be on the card,”
“The world would have been watching them and it would have opened doors in the US.
“There’s no way I should have taken that fight for less than a million and I took it damn near for free, but they blew it over an immediate [rematch]. It’s strange.”
