By David "Los Gatos" Rosenberg
Undefeated cruiserweight Ryan "The Irish Outlaw" Coyne and his business advisor Michael Garrett contacted Boxingscene to set the record straight on a recent report that was published on the website, which stated that a clash between Ryan Coyne and fellow unbeaten prospect Lateef Kayode was in the works for September 9th. According to the report the fight would be televised on ShoBox.
According to Coyne that was the first that his team had heard of the potential matchup. The fighter known as The Irish Outlaw said that he likes the fight but doesn't want to take the fight on short notice.
Coyne told BoxingScene, "We love this fight but this is news to us. This is the first I've heard of this. We can make this fight but it's not going to happen on 3 weeks notice for an Applebees gift card. (John) Benninati (Gary Shaw Productions matchmaker) should know better than to throw my name around like that. If he wants to make this fight he can call Don King with a real offer. Otherwise he can go make me a sandwich."
The St. Louis native feels that the matchup could be built into a big fight if it is promoted correctly. The cruiserweight division is largely ignored in the United States but Coyne feels a fight between an American with a decent following like himself and the U.S. based Kayode could be a hit but not if it is slapped together on short notice.
"All kidding aside, I respect Lateef, Steven (Feder), John, and Gary (Shaw). I realize what they're doing. They want a meaningful fight for their guy and they want it stateside. That's great. I want it too but it's not going to appear out of thin air. They have to get out there and make this thing. Market the fight. Get with Don and get some momentum behind this thing and then we can make this happen. Don't toss my name out there when no one from my team has been approached about this card. Don't use my name to leverage another fighter or to grab headlines,"said Coyne.
Coyne finished by offering a proposal of his own. "If you want this fight do your job. Put us on SHOBOX in separate bouts. I'll fill the stadium and fans can see what we both bring to the table. Lateef might actually pick up a fan or two as well. But don't bark about me on the internet coming in on short notice to fight in some obscure ballroom. I didn't start this life yesterday. You want this fight, do it right!"
Coyne's advisor clarified the situation further by saying that if it wasn't for BoxingScene's article, they wouldn't even be aware of the potential fight. He also re-emphasized Coyne's ability to sell tickets and said that they still hope to land a fight with WBA champion Guillermo Jones. They were scheduled to face Jones in June but the Panamanian pulled out with an injury.
"We spoke to Dana this morning (Don King's VP of Boxing Operations) and she said she's heard nothing about the Kayode bout. As we've said multiple times, we're interested in that fight but it needs to make cents, uh sense, for everyone involved. The last show Ryan fought on drew over 6,000 fans to the Family Arena and a significant chunk of those tickets were sold by Team Irish Outlaw so we've proven that Ryan's a ticket seller. We're not flying to California to fight in a casino ballroom for a box of almonds and a case of wine just so we can say we're fighting on Showtime. We're currently weighing a number of offers and we're hoping that our promoter, Don King, can still put together a fight with Guillermo Jones for the WBA Cruiserweight Title," said Garrett.