Phil D. Jay
WBN Editor
WBN Editor
American admits fight will go ahead without him
Ryan Coyne has admitted defeat in his attempts to block
former promoter Don King from his legal bid to halt his proposed WBO light-heavyweight
title fight with Nathan Cleverly.
The fight was originally announced earlier this month for
November 10, although a contract dispute between Coyne and King quickly emerged
and has now ultimately ended any hopes the ‘Irish Outlaw’ had of his first
world title challenge, to his dismay.
"Much as I hate to say it, this fight will not be going
forward with myself involved in it," Coyne told BBC Wales.
"This is the biggest disappointment of my career. I trained
very, very diligently for this fight and I was devastated when I got the news.
"I want to apologise to the fans in the United Kingdom
and the United States that this fight won't be going ahead, but hopefully we
can get it on at a later date.
"We just have to let the managers and attorneys sort
this out."
Cleverly, 25, is now set to turn to one of three standby
fighters arranged by promoter Frank Warren to deal with this eventuality and
there could now be an opponent in place by Thursday for his US appearance.