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Gordon Ramsay chicken for rejecting boxing match, fumes Harlan Goldstein

Hong Kong chef lays into television heavyweight over charity rejection

Bryan Harris

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has rejected a challenge to box Harlan Goldstein for charity, prompting the Hong Kong culinary guru to suggest his notoriously foul-mouthed rival is all talk and no action.

"He's got a big mouth, but now I can see he's only bark, bark, bark and no bite," said Goldstein, a native New Yorker who has since made Hong Kong his home.

"He might be chicken. I cook chicken."

The fight was proposed by Goldstein's trainer, four-time Muay Thai world champion Alain Ngalani, when he heard Ramsay was recently in town.

In September, Scotsman Ramsay opened his first restaurant - Bread Street Kitchen - in the same Central building as Goldstein's flagship eatery, Gold.

However the surly star of showed no interest in the proposed bout, with a spokesman for the celebrity declining to comment.

"Who is this Ramsay guy, the Grinch that stole Christmas? I was doing this for charity," said Goldstein, who has nonetheless pledged HK$100,000 to local charity Little Sisters of the Poor.

Goldstein said he came under fire for not challenging Ramsay to a cooking competition, which some critics said would have been more appropriate.

"I would never challenge Ramsay to a cooking competition. That would be too easy to win," he said.

"So I challenged him in boxing. He's a Scotsman - lean, mean and super fit."

The proposed fight would not have been the first time two chefs have weighed in against each other in Hong Kong.

Last year, Goldstein faced off against Michelin-starred Alvin Leung in a battle to lose weight, with the former victorious having dropped 20kg in three months.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Ramsay 'chicken' for snubbing boxing bout
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