Team Oquendo Nixes Banks Fight in Poland; Issues a Counter-Offer to Meet in Chicago, by Pavel Yakovlev

(September 4, 2011) - Next week’s bout between Johnathon Banks and Fres Oquendo is cancelled. The fight, scheduled for the undercard of WBC heavyweight champ Vitali Klitschko’s title defense against Tomasz Adamek in Wroclaw, Poland, has been rejected by Oquendo’s camp. Tom Tsatas, Oquendo’s manager, explained, “The circumstances weren’t right. We appreciate the offer to fight Banks, but we weren’t comfortable with certain things about the fight.” Interestingly, Tsatas issued a counter-offer for Banks to meet Oquendo in the United States. “I will offer Johnathon Banks the same amount of money – the equivalent of what they offered us for the Poland match – for him to fight Fres in Chicago,” said Tsatas. “They gave us a gift by offering Fres this fight, and we appreciate it. We would like to return the gift by offering Banks the same amount to fight here. In fact, if Fr...