McBride will not face Skelton
Tuesday, 8 November 2005 16:18Kevin McBride's camp insist he will not be fighting Matt Skelton on December 10 at London's ExCel Arena.
McBride was due to fight British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion Skelton on the supporting bill to Audley Harrison's clash with Danny Williams.
But McBride's adviser Pascal Collins revealed: "Kevin is not fighting Skelton.
"We couldn't agree terms and Kevin will look to have a fight in Boston before Christmas and then he will be hoping to get a world title fight."
Promoter Frank Warren is now set to match Skelton, who also holds the WBU title, in a British heavyweight title defence.
Warren dismissed the suggestion that a deal was not agreed.
He said: "A deal was agreed and that's why I sent them a contract but then I got a letter from McBride's solicitor saying that he was still tied to the promoter of his fight with Tyson until December 11 so that was that."
Collins is confident that McBride, who forced former champion Tyson to retire on his stool in June, can strike a deal with top promoter Don King.
He added: "Kevin is in great shape after four weeks sparring with Hasim Rahman, who was getting ready to fight Vitali Klitschko for the world title before Klitschko got injured.
"He should box in Boston and we should be doing a deal with King very soon because we know that he can get us a world title shot.
"John Ruiz defends his WBA heavyweight title against Nicolay Valuev in Germany before Christmas and Kevin would hopefully get a shot at the winner."
