Exclusive Interview With Gary Shaw
Photo: www.garyshawproductions.com
By Ed Ludwig
11.02 - I had the pleasure of speaking with former Main Events Chief Operating Officer and current CEO of Gary Shaw Productions, Mr. Gary Shaw. We spoke prior to the Omar Weis vs. Emanuel Augustus bout that took place this past Friday. With Sharmba Mitchell winning his eliminator over Carlos Vilches recently it was believed that he would be in position to face Kostya Tszyu as he claimed the number two position in the IBF rankings but due to the confusion running through the ranks of the International Boxing Federation and the selection of Arturo Gatti as the number one contender the road to Kostya Tszyu will have a few speed bumps along the way. Caught in the middle of this mess is Sharmba Mitchell and now a showdown with Arturo Gatti becomes a strong possibility. Mitchell did what he had to do while Gatti was not part of the equation to begin with. The politics of boxing has reared its ugly head and what happens from this point on remains to be seen. I would like to thank Mr. Shaw for taking the time to speak with Eastside Boxing.
Ed Ludwig: First off, can you give us a progress report on Gary Shaw Productions?
Gary Shaw: Things are really going great. I have signed Diego Corrales and I continue to work with Sharmba Mitchell. We are coming off our November promotion in Oklahoma we had a great promotion in Atlantic City and now I am currently working on the Mike Tyson fight on February 22nd in Memphis.
EL: How are things going as far as the promotion of the upcoming Mike Tyson vs. Clifford Etienne fight?
GS: Im working with Bill Kozerski and we are working hard at making sure everything is right in Memphis and as far as that goes, on behalf of Bill and myself everything is going well.
EL: What can you tell us about some of the boxers in your stable?
GS: My promotion is a little different than most in that I dont want to sign a lot of fighters but I dont mind working with a lot of fighters. The fighters I do work with I believe that they are world class. I have William Abelyan who is ranked seventh by the WBC at a 126 pounds and he is ranked by the WBO and IBF. William is a very good fighter and Im just working on getting him a little more notoriety right now. I have Phillip Ndou here who actually belongs to Rodney Berman and Golden Gloves also Silence Mabuza. They both fought on my card in Oklahoma and hopefully I will continue to work with Rodney and his fighters. We will go from there. We have Diego Corrales and Mike Tyson fighting very soon.
EL: What are the key elements that a promoter looks for when signing a fighter to a contract?
GS: Well, I cant speak for any other promoter but only for what I have an interest in. I want to bring a fighter to a world title and I think that the fighters Ive left behind at Main Events like Francisco Bojado, Rocky Juarez are all world class fighters and I have had the pleasure of working with Jeff Lacy and I continue to work with him. I dont have Jeff under contract but I work with him as I do with Sharmba. I think he is one of the class acts in boxing as well as a tremendous talent so when I saw Lacy, he was the type of fighter I wanted to sign coming out of the Olympics.
EL: What happened with Main Events and why did you branch out on your own?
GS: My intent was never to leave Main Events. My intent was to stay there for the rest of my life. In January of last year I got prostate cancer and the next day in the hospital I was already on the phone working on Lewis vs. Tyson and I never stopped working after that so I wasnt looking for a vacation or whatever. There are too many promoters at Main Events and Kathy Duva, I assume although I left on my own, appeared she wasnt happy with the progress that I made for her company. Pat English wants to be a promoter so you have three promoters, Kathy, Pat and myself and only one office. There came a time that I knew it wasnt for me anymore and I gave Kathy my notice that took effect once the Lewis Tyson fight was over.
EL: Having been the former Chief Operating Officer of Main Events and Lou DiBella being the former head of HBO Boxing has the transition been easier for you then Lou?
GS: I think it may have been easier for me to make the transition than Lou. He has signed some very good fighters and done some real good things. Its not a question of me being better than Lou or Lou being better than me but he came from the television side and he was used to spending the budget so to speak. I have come from the business side where we have always tried to make a dollar and with me I think the big difference is our background. Lou knows boxing and I have a lot of respect for him and he knows talent. He and I were the main competition during the last Olympics for one another. Lou has a wonderful deal with HBO and I wish him a lot of luck. Im one of these guys who are not looking to hurt anybody and I hope they all do great because it will benefit the sport of boxing. I owe everything to Jersey Joe Walcott. In 1971 Jersey Joe made me the inspector and back then I think we made between five and seven dollars a day and that included gas to get to the show. I always loved boxing as a sport so I came up being an inspector and then becoming the chief inspector and then going on the board. My accent to the promotional end wasnt by the desire to be a promoter or to make a lot of money. I just did it for the love of the sport and when I was on the commission in New Jersey I used to tell everybody that we should pay for that job and we could save the state some money. I love boxing and I love the fighters. I consider myself a fighters promoter and I really care about them. In a way I guess thats what makes me different, Ill never reach the heights that others have financially because that is not my main drive. I have been involved with the sport for a long time and most people only know me from my three years at Main Events.
EL: What can boxing do to attract new fans?
GS: Boxing needs to attract younger fans. The problem is that promoters try to kill one another and they spread vicious rumours and things that are not true. What the IBF has done with Sharmba Mitchell is terrible. This is the only sport that is killing and trying to knock itself out. A lot of the writers that cover it always look to dig up the dirt and there is never anything positive that comes out and it scares me. Boxing is a place for people with an urban background to rise to fame, glory and financial success.
EL: The IBF is taking a lot of heat right now and deservedly so. How could president Marian Muhammad and ratings chairman Daryl Peoples not know that the Sharmba Mitchell Carlos Vilches bout was not an eliminator?
GS: Its hard for me to believe that money went to that office and a supervisor was assigned plus the sanctioning fees were paid and nobody knows anything. Ive gone on record saying that there was a cozy relationship between Pat English and some people from the IBF. They broke their own rules and they knew it was a ten round eliminator. What bothers me the most about it was they were given the opportunity, being Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti and they both rejected it. I have respect for Lou DiBella because if you call him he will tell you that but Pat English came up with this cock and bull story that he sent a letter back in September or whenever it was requesting sanctioning of the fight and Micky Ward knows nothing about it and neither does Lou DiBella. They go to the weigh in and nobody there knows anything about it. Its just not a believable story. It takes two fighters to fight for a title. Its not twelve rounds and not at a 140 pounds yet he sends a letter and never gets a response. I have a lot of respect for Joe Dwyer. He is a stand up guy and what boxing needs is more Joe Dwyers then we would have fewer problems with sanctioning organizations. He and I had an agreement on behalf of Sharmba and the IBF and I know he tried to live up to his agreement. Im not so sure that Marian wasnt hoodwinked and I dont believe that she was part of the problem. Remember that the IBF has an attorney and I will leave it at that.
EL: When I spoke with Sharmba Mitchell he was very excited to be the frontrunner to land a title shot against Kostya Tszyu. What happens to him now?
GS: Jeff Fried and Judd Burstein whom I hired will deal with the IBF. Hopefully we can find some resolution that makes some sense and if we cant then on behalf of Sharmba we will have no choice but to litigate. We had an agreement, we paid and lived up to the agreement, we fought the twelve rounds at 140, now its up to the IBF to live up to their agreement. At the same time it isnt fair that Pat English and Main Events is abusing the IBF because everybody knows that there have been negotiations going on for a fight this spring or summer. If your going to stay at number one then fight Sharmba Mitchell and if you are going to fight Micky Ward again then remove yourself from number one. I love Arturo Gatti, he is just a victim of what some people are doing or are trying to do for him or maybe for some other reason. Everybody in boxing knows that Ward Gatti wasnt an eliminator because both camps didnt know if their guys could go twelve rounds.
EL: It doesnt seem fair to me that Gatti wasnt part of the original plan and now he leapfrogs over Sharmba who earned his spot and did it the right way.
GS: This all started because I followed the rankings and I saw that one and two were open and I acted on behalf of my fighter. All of a sudden Emanuel Burton (Augustus) is now in it. Where was Leon Margolis? Sleeping? The trouble is that he is an attorney trying to pose as a promoter. He writes a letter to the IBF saying that they didnt include him because his fighter beat Vilches. Why didnt he send in a letter? Everybody woke up after I did it. After the Ward fight they didnt go right to the IBF and it wasnt until January when the columnists were writing that Sharmba Mitchell was fighting for number two and whomever wanted number one would have to go through Sharmba. Up till then Leon Margolis was under a palm tree in Miami. Nobody did anything until after we did it.
EL: After Bob Lee Sr. and the late Doug Beavers were found guilty of taking bribes to push fighters up in the rankings it appeared that things might improve after the personnel changes were made and that is not the case. What will it take for the IBF to redeem itself and earn credibility?
GS: Let a guy like Joe Dwyer keep his word. He is a stand up guy who makes an agreement and follows through. If they dont allow guys like Joe Dwyer to represent them and then not allow him to keep his word then you have nothing. Its like a reporter saying its off the record and you print it and then the next time you say that who is going to believe you? His word cant be good because of other peoples agendas and that is the sad part. It is incumbent upon the IBF to do the right thing. If they make an agreement with a fighter they have to keep their word even if it is not with Sharmba Mitchell. What is working for me today or Sharmba could work against me. There was a time that I had a discussion with Joe Dwyer in Connecticut and it had to do with Fernando Vargas and Winky Wright. He said that Winky was going to be ranked number one or two and I said to Joe that I wanted something else. He tells me that Winky has earned his shot and that it doesnt work that way so sometimes it works against you and sometimes it works for you. I dont always like what Joe says but I respect him for it.
EL: What roadblocks do you four see over the next few months in regards to the situation with the IBF?
GS: Its a very good question. Im hoping there wont be roadblocks and that something will sober someone up and realize that Joe Dwyer made an agreement, we on behalf of the IBF may not agree with what Joe did but he is a representative and he is head of the championship committee so we will keep the agreement. They could do that in this case because Gatti and Ward were offered by Joe Dwyer the number one position and they turned it down. Whether or not they did it personally it was rejected. Pat English and Lou DiBella could have done it on their behalf. If they never had the opportunity then someone could have said that they were overlooked and it was wrong. There are a lot of things they could say and they didnt and now they are trying to go in the back door, not DiBella but Main Events with their fighter. Think about what they did, they went up to the IBF office and had a meeting. Pat Lynch who is Gattis manager, Pat English, Linda Torres the attorney, Carl Morretti, Daryl Peoples, Marian Muhammad and Joe Dwyer. People petitioned to be moved up by letter and they went ahead and had a meeting. Dont you think that someone should have invited Sharmba Mitchell, Team Mitchell or counsel for Mitchell? How about after they made this decision dont you think someone should have called and told Team Mitchell we took your money but things have changed. We found out through the newspaper. Dan Rafael called Fred Sternburg. Through a press release that Main Events did they were probably trying to submarine my promotion and hurt my credibility with my fighter so isnt it funny that this meeting that took place in early January, they went in for two days before my event and maybe try to hurt Ballys. Ballys are a buyer of fights so why do you want to hurt them? They do business with Ballys. Ken Condon is a great guy. The IBF never calls or tells us so if Main Events doesnt make their press release we go into the fight not even knowing and that is crazy. I always question if Main Events is trying to help Arturo Gatti or destroy Gary Shaw. Gatti didnt have to be number one to fight Kostya Tszyu. Tszyu could have asked for an exemption and fought Gatti at number three. He has a WBC mandatory first.
EL: Thank you very much for your time.
GS: Thank you very much for taking the time to interview me. I really appreciate it.
For more information on Gary Shaw Productions please visit www.garyshawproductions.com