Warren quashes Quigley Rumours

Promoter Frank Warren has quashed the recent rumours circulating that Tony Quigley has withdrawn from his British Super-Middleweight title defence against Paul Smith on October 30th at the Echo Arena in Liverpool. Warren, who won the purse bids last month to stage the highly-anticipated Merseyside derby, has said that the fight is definitely on. On Wednesday (2 September), Quigley's promoter Frank Maloney tried to create doubt as to whether the fight would take place by issuing a press release stating that Quigley had asked for a two-week postponement of his title defence against Smith because of a shoulder injury. Quotes attributed to Quigley said, "I'm certainly not avoiding Smith, but I won't be as prepared as I'd like for the fight if it is staged at the end of the month, which is a gutter." Yet on the same day, in an interview by Nick Peet that appeared in The Liverpool Echo, Quigley laughed off the talk of him pulling out and said that nothing would keep him from the fight. He also added that he had been running up and down mountains in Wales for two weeks already - hardly the preparation of a boxer with a shoulder injury looking for a postponement. To further dispel the rumours created by his own promoter and Steve Wood, his manager, Quigley did a radio interview with presenter Craig Lowe on BBC Merseyside - on Wednesday evening - saying that the rumour was "rubbish" and that the fight is on. He added that he and his father said that they did not need an extra two weeks. Warren, who has delivered Quigley's best ever payday by winning the pursebid for the fight, is obviously annoyed with Maloney and Wood's interference in his promotion. He said, "Maloney should be more concerned about his own shows instead of putting his nose into other promoters' events," "This is a fight that the whole of Liverpool want to see and he is trying to create confusion by saying that the fight is postponed - which he has no right to do - and this could have affected our ticket sales," "He is simply meddling and trying to get involved when he should have dug a little deeper into his pockets if he wanted to promote the fight," "I will be sending a complaint to the British Boxing Board of Control over this matter." Warren added, "When the rumour that Quigley was injured came out, Steve Wood assured us that he was fine and would box on October 30th. Then he and Maloney are stated in the release saying that they are looking for a postponement," "At least Tony Quigley and his father have set the record straight and are being honest."