By Bill Kozloff, allboxing.ru

According to co-promoter Boris Grinberg, veteran heavyweight Travis Walker vanished when negotiations began to get serious for a February fight with unbeaten prospect Magomed Abdusalamov (12-0, 12KOs). The Russian prospect will now return in Las Vegas on February 3rd against Cuban Pedro Rodriguez (8-0, 6KOs).

"It is very difficult to find an opponent to Magomed. Nobody wants to be beaten. This can be explained with the refusal by Walker. He was offered money, but he said it was not enough. Then we went to the matchmaker and offered him a thousand more than what he demanded. After that, Walker vanished. He did not respond to phone calls and contacting him was impossible. We offered pretty good money for an eight to ten round fight," Grinberg said.