Wrangle thwarts Woodhall

Boxing

Richie Woodhall was tonight left without a fight when his European middleweight championship bout was aborted in Hamburg. The German promoters could not come up with the balance of Woodhall's pounds 181,000 purse - two-thirds of which had been paid - and Mickey Duff, his manager, felt he had no alternative but to pull out of the defence against Salvador Yanez.

Duff gave a 6pm deadline to the fight's financial backer, Kalle Schwensen, to come up with the outstanding cash, but he could not find the money.

Woodhall, though, will not be financially embarrassed. The payments already made will mean that he will go back to Telford with the equivalent of pounds 125,000 after paying taxes.

But keen competitor though he is, the Telford fighter would have preferred to expend some of his energy against the 31-year-old Chilean-born challenger. "I'm not angry. There's no point in ranting and raving because you do no good. But obviously, I'm disappointed," Woodhall said.

The initial offer from Schwensen, under the promotional banner of Detleft Loritz, was a record for a European title fight and was too good to ignore.