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March date for Skelton-Williams showdown

14/12/2005

British heavyweight champion Matt Skelton looks set to fight new Commonwealth king Danny Williams in March next year.

The two boxers were due to meet earlier this year but Williams withdrew at the 11th hour to leave Skelton and the fight's promotion team fuming.

Bad blood has subsequently risen between the two but, after Williams, 32, defeated Audley Harrison last weekend, it looks like as though talking will now be replaced by fighting.

Undefeated Skelton, 38, meets Welsh talent Scott Gammer, who also boasts an unblemished record, in Nottingham at the end of January and providing he wins that, he is expected to face Harrison's conqueror at Manchester's MEN Arena on March 4th.

Williams, who shot to global notoriety by knocking out an ageing Mike Tyson before fighting then-WBC champion Vitali Klitschko for the world title last year, expressed his eagerness to meet Skelton as opposed to fighting a rematch with Harrison.

"[A rematch with Harrison] would be a hard sell after the way he performed," Williams told the Guardian newspaper.

"15,000 fans paid their money and turned up expecting a great fight but he let them down because he didn't appear to want to fight.

"Me and Skelton will be much more exciting. People criticise his style but he comes to fight and has a big heart."

The Skelton-Williams showdown is likely to be part of the undercard of Joe Calzaghe's eagerly anticipated super-middleweight unification fight with American Jeff Lacy.

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