12.12.06 – Interview by Michael Marley, www.BoxingConfidential.com: And Shelly Finkel told me all that before the soup came at Tropica inside Grand Central Station. Boxing’s most successful manager of his generation was, as usual, bubbling over with enthusiasm and optimism although he does see imminent danger ahead for boxing in general.
Finkel is, above all, two things. He is a survivor and usually an optimist, a guy who prefers to look at the proverbial glass as half full rather than half empty..
So before he could dig into his tuna tartar, I peppered him with a few questions. Sheldon Finkel, enquiring minds want to know or befitting the restaurant’s Asian theme, “Wasabi, Shelly?’
Q. On the dark side, you are pessimistic about boxing overall going into 2007, yes or no?
A. Yes I am. The rise of UFC/MMA is just one thing but a network executive told me recently that “boxing is a dying sport” because his kids do not watch it and don’t seem interested. His kids fit the UFC demographic. A bigger problem is that some real stars are fading away. In 2007, Floyd and Oscar may both quit. Bernard Hopkins may be through. So where are the stars to replace them? This is not the music business where Paul McCartney is still singing and where the Rolling Stones are selling out venues in their 60s. You cannot work as a boxer for 40 years.
Q. Is there a ready answer to boxing’s ills or should we just throw away the keys and leave it to the Twenty Somethings and Dana White? He was profiled on “60 Minutes” last night.
A. You know where the UFC started becoming a success? When they started doing weekly shows like the WWE does. They developed story lines and people began to take a personal interest in the fighters. Paul Williams may be a great talent but who knows anything about him? You can’t just pop up on HBO or Showtime and expect that you have a following.
Q. And I called you an optimist. You sound like Gloomy Gus now. Tell everyone checking you on www.boxingconfidential.com something humorous that they don’t know.
A. Manny Pacquiao has a great sense of humor. Day after the Morales fight, or the night after it, Jorge Arce came up to Manny’s room in Vegas. He told Manny, ‘I want to fight you in the Philippines. You lose to me on purpose and then we will have the biggest rematch ever. I will sell advertising on the bottom of my shoes so they can see it when you knock me out.’ Manny just laughing hysterically at Arce.
Q. All the years dealing with boxers, their personal issues and their family and friends problems, how come you never switched over to being a promoter?
A. I’ve managed some great guys and some not so great guys for sure. I thought about it a few times and Don King years ago, when he thought he was really sick, asked me to come in and run his company. This was way back when Livingstone Bramble was fighting and Don felt he was not going to live so long based on some family history. But I knew that would not work out. I prefer managing especially with guys like Mark Breland, a very special guy, who became a friend forever.
Q. Your position was that Pacman would be the hottest free agent in boxing history, right? You told him he should be accepting fights on a one-off basis to find out who the highest bidder would be. Now he has issues surrounding promotional contracts with both Top Rank and Golden Boy. What’s next?
A. As a manager I believe I could solve his legal problems. I just want to see this wonderful kid and wonderful fighter, Manny, make all the money that he can. That is my job as his manager and that is what I will continue to do. I extricated him from a bad situation with Murad Muhammad and I got his US income tax problems straightened out.
Q. It’s no secret that Golden Boy wants to roll up, meaning to buy out some promotional competitors and that they have made offers to other promoters. Do you see Golden Boy taking over the whole sport?
A. I hate to be pessimistic but there may be nothing to roll up the way things are going. I can see three or four boxing promoters going under in the near future. All my years in the business I was never involved in a lawsuit until five years ago. Something happened where people in boxing went crazy.
Q. You also manage the boxing affairs of Wladimir Klitschko, the IBF heavyweight champ. Is he as intelligent as he seems to be and does he really want to unify?
A. He is a pleasure to work with and for. Yes, he wants to unify. But he is smart enough to know that King is a roadblock to that. But I will sit down with King if he has something sensible to offer. I never say never even with Don. Boxing is viewed as a bastard sport and it does not help that we have so many champions and so many that people do not know exist. ESPN has trouble getting sponsors for their shows. That market is so limited. I see more gloom and little sunshine going forward.
Q. If boxing was a stock, then Shelly, you’d be Jim Cramer screaming sell or short that stock, I think. But Pacman is a ray of sunshine in this downpour for sure. Tell us something else about that even the Pacmaniacs who live on the great Pacland web site might not even know.
A. He is a warrior, a throwback to the old-time champions, really. Before the Morales fight, Manny was really and truly sick. He had the flu or at least symptoms of the flu. He was getting chills and he had headaches. There was some brief discussion of him not fighting but Manny insisted. Manny said, ‘As long as I am standing, I will fight. I’m definitely fighting. I cannot let my whole country down.” That is how Manny handles adversity and why he is so popular. Their president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, once took time out from a world economic summit meeting to call Manny.
Even though I have a reach impediment, I wanted to pick up the check. Sir Sheldon thought I did but, on the way out of the restaurant, Finkel’s regular waiter informed him that Tropica comped him. He then duked the waiter with some green holiday cheer.
With wishes for a safe flight to Manila and back, and a hearty mabuhay, we shook hands with boxing’s best manager and departed.
I tinkled with Finkel. And, despite the unexpected negative outlook, I enjoyed it, especially the free lunch part. Shelly keeps feeding me like that and I will propose a Finkel monument in Brownsville, Brooklyn where he first lived. Put it on Amboy Street, perhaps, adjacent to Michael Tyson’s old residence.
(Attn. Halle Berry: the email remains mlcmarley@aol.com)