Enzo Maccarinelli's hopes of a domestic cruiserweight fight with David Haye appeared to be over yesterday after the promoter Frank Warren said he had been forced to pull the plug on a projected April meeting.

Maccarinelli signed his portion of the contract for the fight but Warren said it was "dead in the water" due to impossible last-minute demands made by Haye's team.

"We got to the stage where all the contracts and amendments were agreed and exchanged, then they started making more ridiculous demands and negotiated themselves out of the fight," Warren said. "We had worked so hard to get this fight on and it has all been one big waste of time. It is clear to me that Haye never intended to go through with this fight in the first place."

Haye's trainer and manager, Adam Booth, disputed Warren's version of events and said the fight could still be salvaged if both parties reverted to what he called their "original deal".

Booth said: "We have in writing a faxed offer for a one-fight deal which we accepted. However, Frank later withdrew that offer and proposed a number of options which were totally unacceptable. If Frank still wants to do it as the one-fight deal with no strings attached, then it is on.

"We have agreed the money and everything else and we made no last-minute changes to our demands."

Warren had planned to stage the potentially explosive encounter on the undercard of Joe Calzaghe's World Boxing Organisation super-middleweight title defence against Peter Manfredo in Manchester on 7 April.

Haye challenged Maccarinelli by placing a full-page advertisement in the trade magazine Boxing News, warning his rival they must fight by April or not at all.

Haye and his promoter, Frank Maloney, were not available for comment.

Maccarinelli is still expected to defend his WBO title on the Manchester bill, before turning his attention to a possible meeting with the winner of O'Neil Bell's unification rematch with Jean-Marc Mormeck.