Paul Economides expressed his disappointment after his scheduled fight on Saturday night was cancelled just 24 hours before he was due to step through the ropes.
Economides, of Vicars Cross, had been due to take on Georgian number one George Gachechiladze at Grand Central Hall in Liverpool but was forced to refund his fans after his opponent pulled out of the fight on Friday without explanation.
A rookie opponent with a 1-0 record was lined up at the last minute but 28-year-old Economides took the difficult decision the cancel his appearance on the canvas after deciding the stand-in would not have been testing enough.
“I can’t tell you how frustrating and stressful the whole thing has been,” said super bantamweight Economides, who also works as a personal trainer.
“I’d been due to fight the guy before now but we only found out on Friday and we didn’t even get an explanation as to why he couldn’t come over.
“All that training, all the hard work and all the time I’ve had to take off work running around selling tickets was all for nothing. I was fuming to be honest.
“They did find an opponent at the last minute but he was a 1-0 kid and I had a look at him on YouTube and he was awful. I would have knocked him out in about 30 seconds.
“I decided the best thing was to refund the fans as I wanted to put on a show for them and that wouldn’t have been value for money.
“But that’s boxing for you. You get things like this happening from time to time.”
But Economides, who fights out of Chester Boxers gym in Hoole, revealed that brighter days could be around the corner after hinting a fight with highly-rated rival Lewis Pettitt could be on the cards.
Economides, who has teamed up with boxing promoter and former Chester City FC chairman Stephen Vaughan, has made no secret of his desire to take on one of Pettitt, Jazza Dickens or Gavin McDonnell in a bid to take his career to the next level.
“We’re trying to do a deal on the Lewis Pettitt fight and I reckon we might be close,” he added.
“We’ve had discussions with Frank Warren (Pettitt’s promoter) about getting it on and we’re going to have some more discussions I think.
“I need a fight like that now. I’m at my best and need to show it.”
