Apparently, it was too good to be true - a super middleweight showdown between a former world champion, Denmark’s Mikkel Kessler, and one of the sport’s brightest young stars, Edison Miranda, to be held on May 24th and aired on Showtime. But it’s not to be after Kessler pulled out of the bout today, giving no reason for his withdrawal.

Miranda, a former middleweight title challenger who is unbeaten with two knockouts in his first two super middleweight bouts, isn’t surprised.

“I didn’t get my hopes up because I know Kessler is afraid of me,” said Miranda. “We gave him everything he wanted to make this fight and he still wouldn’t take it. In fact, the only thing we didn’t give him is the opportunity to tie my hands around my back while we fought, but at this point I’m willing to even give him that because I know if I yelled ‘boo’ at him in the ring he’d turn and run. I said it before and I’ll say it again – he should be ashamed to call himself a Viking Warrior.”

Among the concessions Miranda and his promoter made to Kessler were that the bout would not be held on any Native American owned property, including the Seminole Hard Rock Live Arena in Florida or any other Hard Rock property, and that it wouldn’t even be held anywhere in the state of Florida. Financially, Kessler’s demands kept rising throughout negotiations, but due to a substantial offer by Showtime, all these demands would have been met if the fight came to fruition. Unfortunately, at this point it won’t.

“I am outraged by the behavior of the Kessler camp,” said Leon Margules, Executive Director of Seminole Warriors Boxing. “We sent them a contract with everything they asked for and then told Showtime we changed things. Please read their written deal point memo sent to us by them. We gave them everything they wanted. Showtime even moved the date form May 10th to May 24th to accommodate them. And then I did not receive the courtesy of a phone call but I had to hear from Showtime the fight was off. It is hard to believe that any person would do business this way. I guess the Kessler is really afraid of Miranda and they are covering for him. They must believe the only place they can win a fight against a real fighter is in Denmark.”

“If Kessler isn’t man enough to fight me, that’s okay because now the world knows that we gave him everything he asked for and still wouldn’t take the fight,” said Miranda. “I know that there has to be someone out there willing to fight me, and sooner or later, we’ll find him.”

The search for a high-profile opponent for Miranda continues. Stay tuned.