Angry Harrison pulls out of Skelton fight

Audley Harrison today dealt a knock-out blow to a showdown with British heavyweight champion Matt Skelton by insisting "there will be no fight".

Promoter Frank Warren called a press conference for later today when confirmation was expected that Harrison and Skelton would meet at the ExCel Centre in London's Docklands on 9 October.

Warren billed the bout between the two unbeaten rivals as "the domestic dust-up of the decade" and announced Harrison and Skelton would both be there to talk about their chances.

But Harrison said: "I'm not going to any press conference, nor is a fight between myself and Matt Skelton a done deal. Unfortunately, Mr Warren's over-zealous and premature announcement that the fight is happening is irresponsible on his part as the statement is false and, in fact, no contracts have been signed."

The Olympic gold medallist went on: "At this stage of my career I want nothing more than to fight Matt Skelton.

"I and my team have been doing our part to move things along and I felt quite confident that a deal for the fight was close to being made. Unfortunately, Frank's latest actions have now hampered the spirit of the negotiations and it seems totally inappropriate at this stage of our talks that he would release such a statement when in fact there is no paperwork signed to back it up."