Peters dismayed by Egan affair
05 March 2009 – By Mark Doyle
Promoter Brian Peters has expressed his disappointment at Kenny Egans withdrawal from the undercard for Bernard Dunnes world title clash with Ricardo Cordoba in Dublin on March 21 but fully understands why the amateur star has decided to pull out.
Olympic hero Egan has been struggling to cope with the celebrity status imposed upon him after last summers silver medal success in Beijing and, after going AWOL for last weeks international clash with the United States, the classy light-heavyweight revealed on Wednesday that he was not in the right condition to box on Peters’ pro-am bill at The O2.
It is a major blow for promoter, who had managed to arrange a rematch for Egan with Chinas Xiaoping Zhang, the man who controversially denied him gold in Beijing.
However, Peters has a great deal of sympathy for Egan’s current plight and believes that the Dubliner has made the right decision.
Clearly Kenny is going through a difficult time right now in his life and he needs all the help and support he can get at the moment because his health and well being is obviously paramount, he said.
Its unfortunate because Xiaoping Zhang had accepted the fight and Kennys coach Gerry Fleming and the Irish Amateur Boxing Association were instrumental in working with the President of the Chinese Boxing Federation Chang Jianping to secure the fight for The O2 on March 21st.
A lot of hard work had gone into securing the Olympic final rematch from all parties.
We had finalised all the details late last week and Kenny was due to announce the bout on a planned appearance on Tubridy Tonight last Saturday. Clearly Kenny has issues that he needs to address before getting back in the ring and he felt that the March 21st date was simply too soon.
Its disappointing for everyone involved including Xiaoping Zhang who was really looking forward to coming to Dublin.
However Im sure its even more disappointing for Kenny to have to withdraw but in this case his health and well being must come before everything else.
