A Statement to the Press from Danny Williams
First and foremost I would like to apologise to everyone involved that has been let down by me pulling out of the fight. I would like to state that I have not spoken to Frank Warren and the first I have heard about the comments made by Frank Warren about me, is through members of the press.
I have worked with Frank for majority of my boxing career and have the up most respect for him and therefore have no intention of turning this into a slagging match. However, what I will say is that I am surprised by Franks reaction as he has said to me in the past that if I didn't feel 100% fit to fighting that I should pull out, even if its at a minutes notice.
The reason behind my withdrawal from the fight is that I have the flu. I initially thought I had hay fever but it became apparent at the end of the week that it was much more than that, I took a load of cold remedies and felt a bit better, and hoped that I would feel 100% by the day of the fight, but my family felt I shouldn't go ahead and because I refused to withdraw from the fight, my wife called Frank and told him I had the flu.
I trained extremely hard for this fight, I was sparring with David Haye, and even brought Sherman Williams over from the US for sparring. I am extremely disappointed that I had to pull out of the fight considering I was the one that asked Frank for the fight with Skelton in the first place, but if I had gone ahead with the fight and anything had gone wrong everyone would have said if you weren't 100% fit you shouldn't have taken the fight!
I understand Frank has been calling me a bottle job. But those who follow my career will know that I won the British Title while fighting with a dislocated shoulder, came back against Mike Tyson and also challanged the world's best heavyweight Vitali Klitscko. So do you think I'm really scared of Matt Skelton.
Lastly, I would still love to fight Skelton but that's really up to Frank!
Danny Williams
