By Dan Rafael, ESPN.com
Despite an announcement earlier this week, the fight between Selcuk Aydin of Turkey and American Luis Collazo for the vacant WBC interim welterweight title will not take place.
Collazo's adviser and trainer, Nirmal Lorick, said that the Don King-promoted fighter no longer wants to make the weight and is unhappy with the $105,000 purse offer.
"We are not fighting at 147 [pounds] anymore," Lorick said. "We told Don a couple of weeks ago he was having trouble with the weight and that we're not fighting at 147 anymore. The inactivity has been a real problem for Luis. He feels his body has been through enough and he'd rather move up in weight to fight someone else. We're looking for a fight with [junior middleweight titlist and new middleweight champ] Sergio Martinez."
Collazo (30-4, 15 KOs), a former WBA welterweight titleholder, has been chronically inactive, in part because few name opponents want to fight the southpaw. Since losing a slugfest to welterweight titlist Andre Berto in January 2009, Collazo has fought only once, on a club show against a journeyman opponent last June.
Collazo, 29, also lost his two other high-profile bouts, a lopsided decision to Shane Mosley in 2007 and a controversial decision to Ricky Hatton in 2006.
"We waited around for months thinking we'd have the rematch with Berto while the purse bid kept getting rescheduled," Lorick said. "Then Berto got an exception to fight Mosley [in a January fight that was ultimately canceled] and we were supposed to fight Aydin for the interim [title].
"Then the fight was delayed over and over," Lorick continued. "It's ridiculous. Now, they say Luis should go over there, lose the weight and fight for no money? By the time Don gets paid, they take out the taxes, Luis ends up with nothing. Training camp alone costs us $15,000 to $20,000. But the weight is really the issue. We are not going to put Luis' health in danger by making that weight anymore."
Although there was no signed contract, Aydin (19-0, 15 KOs) and German promoter Arena-Box believed the fight was happening to the point that Aydin arrived in Florida last week to begin training for the bout with trainer Ismael Salas and strength coach Jorge Rojas.
Source: sports.espn.go.com
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