Until the official announcement was made to inform him otherwise, Erik Pfeifer was convinced that he had a deal in place for a fight with Daniel Dubois.

Instead, the fringe heavyweight contender will have to come to grips with the reality that his fate resided all along with the rumors he heard only through the media.

Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions revealed on Wednesday a change of opponents for its stud heavyweight, as Dubois (15-0, 14KOs) will now face The Netherlands’ Ricardo Snijders (18-1, 8KOs) atop an August 29 show live from BT Sport Studio in East London. Whispers of Pfeifer being removed from the mix were first revealed by The Athletic’s Mike Coppinger, citing sources that apparently had better information than Pfeifer (7-0, 5KOs) and his team who learned of the development through social media.

“These guys are not to be respected,” Erol Ceylan, Pfeifer’s promoter as head of EC Boxing told krikya360.com on Wednesday. “They claim there was an issue with paperwork; that’s bullsh-t. We submitted all medical documents in time, but never heard back from anyone from Warren’s team.

“We asked for the contract, never heard back for days from anyone. Now Erik’s training camp is completely wasted because of these aassh-les.”

The official press release indicated an issue with Pfeifer’s medicals, which krikya360.com has learned through sources was a matter of his MRI not being submitted in time. For fear of moving forward with an event and running into a last-minute withdrawal, Queensberry instead proceeded with plans for Dubois to face Snijders who was already assigned as a standby opponent.

Claims of incomplete documents are disputed by Ceylan, who insists everything was submitted in time. The real issue, he claims, is the lack of a response from his event contacts—going several days without hearing from anyone at Queensberry which grew increasingly infuriating after having to read on Twitter that his fighter was being removed from the show.

Efforts by krikya360.com to seek further clarification from Queensberry Promotion went unreturned as this goes to publish.

The two sides did prior business earlier this summer, with Michael Wallisch being delivered to face Warren-promoted Joe Joyce. Their bout took place on the very same studio lot on July 25, with Joyce (11-0, 10KOs) winning by 3rd round knockout in a fight where Wallisch’s team admittedly remained uncertain of it seeing the light of day.

“In the beginning, we arranged for both fights,” insists Ceylan. “I was more unsure that the Wallisch fight would happen. We didn’t have all his paperwork and he wasn’t in the best shape, taking the fight on short notice. They said everything was fine, because they knew he wasn’t going to beat Joe Joyce. But we were confident that Erik was going to beat Dubois.

“He is in the best shape of his career, he’s still sparring—we didn’t know how to tell him there is no fight. They knew he was going to beat Dubois and ruin their plans for (a fight between Dubois and) Joe Joyce. That’s why they never answered when I keep calling and texting them. They are scared, they are all p-ssies.” 

Pfeifer—a 33-year old prospect from Hamburg, Germany by way of Asbest, Russia—has not fought since a 5th round knockout of Adnan Redzovic last November. All seven of his pro bouts have taken place in Germany, with the planned clash versus Dubois to have marked his first road trip and biggest step up in competition to date.

Whether that day will ever come back around remains to be seen. For now, it’s not an avenue his team plans to revisit any time soon.

“They are all untrustworthy. Frank Warren, his son, all of them,” claims Ceylan. “I will never again do business with these people. Everything will need to be signed in writing. I am a man of my word, I make deals and work hard to carry my reputation as a man of respect.

“These people are assh-les. They are not to be trusted and next time I see them, they will feel it.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox