Quote Originally Posted by miles

With Kessler having now come out and saying he would fight in the UK after Calzaghe saying he would go to Denmark reeks of opportunism. Calzaghe continues to get slagged every right and centre and its unjustified at this point in time. He has accepted the conditions and agreed to fight in September on foreign soil. We have heard nothing since on Palle and his teams appraisal other than that their lawyers would look at the proposal (which was their own!!). The silence has continued and now Kessler has decided that a fight in England would be okay because his mother is English?!

Its drivel.
I agree with you to a certain point. A few remarks though:

We dont know what is really going on in negotiations. This is a big match, a lot of things that have to be accounted for in contracts, and knowing both camps they will probably make even small details part of a pissing match. This will be down to economy - always trying to get an even better agreement for themselves - as well as pride and perhaps even to have the mental advantage in the build up to the fight. Whatever comes through the press at this point need to be looked at in that light. Palle/Kessler are trying to play their cards, just as Warren/Calzaghe are playing theirs. This is extremely annoying for us fans, but that is the way it is.

Anyway - all this just to say that there is more to negotiate than what have (seemingly) been agreed upon already. This may or may not be a problem - we simply dont know at this point.

Preme keeps mentioning that Kessler turned down the offer of £3m, but every report suggest that when they got down to business there never really was a £3m offer. Instead Kessler was offered a much lower number + percentages of the gate (and, if I remember correctly, Scandinavian tv-rights as well). With Warren (HBO?) dictating the fight to take place at 2-3 am in the morning, Palle/Kessler probably had reason to believe the numbers not adding up to 3m.

Should Kessler have taken the offer anyway? Dunno, but as long as they agree to fight this year, I really couldnt care less about, who gets what and where. I honestly think this match will come off. It is just too damn obvious a fight for both fighters that they cannot afford to let it pass. And both fighters seem relatively keen on it now as well, and with their respective comments to the press, they have put themselves so far in the corner that there is no way out (without hurting their career/legacy severely at least). All that said I also expect both camps (not both fighters, both camps) to continue their pissing contest until the very minute they climb into the ring - and if possible even after that as well. But that does not necessarily mean that the figters are scared - just that their promoters are annoying.