"Calzaghe turned us down and you can see who they're trying to make the fights with."

Sometimes there are more important things than stepping in the ring to have someone try and punch you in the face repeatedly. And right now Robert Allen has more important things to take care of. Boxingtalk was able to speak with Byron Oglesby about Robert Allen and his decision not to fight on Feb 4th. He also speaks about champions Jeff Lacy and Joe Calazghe and their refusal to face Robert Allen. You won't want to miss this one.

Jose Aguirre: I spoke to Robert Allen who made us aware that he will not be fighting Syd Vanderpool on Feb 4th. What can you tell us about this?

Byron Oglesby: "He's still going to be working and making plans to give Jeff Lacy and (Joe) Calzaghe. Right now what prevented him from being able to take this fight is that he's been going back and forth to California and he just got custody of his daughter. He actually had to move her from California back here to Atlanta. It's been a big thing going on. They been in court for  a long time and he spent alot of money and alot of hours in court with lawyers and they gave him custody without a problem. Everything came through. he just has to take a little time to get her situated. She with him now permanantly. He's always been involved in her life but her mother pased away last year. It wasn't something that was really discussed. We went ahead and get prepared for the (Bernard) Hopkins fight. Then he had to deal with the lawsuit. The daughters grandmother was trying to maintain custody over his daughter. He's been going back and forth and it wouldn't allow him to properly prepare. He couldn't get out of here and she just started school and he can't leave her now."

JA: I understand these things happen. He must be disappointed about not fighting but how excited is he to have his daughter with him?

BO: "Oh man. Especially to go through so much and now he's taking it all in. He's just trying to make sure she's ok. We had actually already had started a good training program. I knew the fight was coming down the chute and he started preparing. He had already told me that he would love to fight (Syd) Vanderpool because we had already gotten turned down by Lacy's people. Instead they took Omar Sheika. Which is a disappointment but those guys have to do what they have to do business wise. As far as the super middleweights go Robert Allen defenitely deserves a shot at those guys if they're going to be fighting these Omar Sheika's and what not. We knew it was going to be a situation where we had to get a guy like that out of the way so they had to fight him. Warriors was trying to make the fight with Lacy but they turned it down. They weren't interested in fighting Robert. That's the fight Robert wants, Lacy. Calzaghe's people turned him down as well. They were trying to fight guys like Otis Grant. Robert hasn't been detered in his career. Three loses to Bernard Hopkins is irregardless when they look at it. Robert is one of the best boxers in the sport. Hes just trying to get right back to one of the champions so he can get his super middleweight title. He held the interim middleweight title but he wants tha belt outright."

JA: Being around Robert as much as you are and for as long as you have been, do you think he'll use this as a motivating factor?

BO: "Yeah I think he will. Right now I think he's getting to a poin to where it's going to be fun for him again. He has his daughter here. Alot of other things are going well. It's been a long hard road just to manuevering and the guys he's had to go through to get in position. Where he is now is not a bad position. It's a good spot. Robert is still rated. We're just hoping there is a way that he can get in there with the best fighters. Those are the guys he wants to fight with."

JA: Has Robert spoken to you about what type of time frame he wants to work with or is he just taking care of other things right now?

BO: "What we're going to do is train. We're training and he's running. We know we missed out on getting in there with Vanderpool. We're just going to keep preparing. You've been around boxing as long as you have, you know that things just happen in boxing. Right now I just make sure I get him in great shape. Get in the gym and just get ready. The phones going to ring. Long as Robert does his thing and continues to win they have to fight him. The super middleweight division lacks any real names besides Calzaghe and Lacy. Those guys are going to have to com around. If they don' come around to take the fights they're going to end up having to take the fights. We'll go back to mandatory again. It's not a problem. He'll fight whoever he needs to fight in order to do it. Did it before do it again."

JA: Worst case scenario, when can we expect Robert Allen back in the ring?

BO: "Within the next three to four months. It's just going to take him a minute to accommodate his daughter while she's here and being able to take care of things involved in parenthood. He'll be back on tv and back doing his thing real soon. He's just preparing and we're just hoping that they put some pressure on these guys. The other champions, Lacy and them guys. They're going to have to take some fights that are going to present a challenge to them. He got his Omar Sheika in and we just hope the come on and step to the table and make a real fight."

CLICK HERE FOR MORE OF THIS EXCLUSIVE

Send questions and comments to: onfireboxing@verizon.net