By Mark Vester
Not everyone is happy with the recent announcement of Floyd Mayweather challenging Carlos Baldomir for the WBC welterweight title on November 4. Two of those unhappy people are IBF junior middleweight champion Cory Spinks and his trainer/manager Kevin Cunningham.
After reaching an agreement with Mayweather's team for a meeting with Spinks, and getting approval from the IBF for the bout, Cunningham was so sure the fight was coming off, he told the media it was a "99% done deal." Days later, he was stunned to learn that Mayweather had made a deal to face WBC welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir.
Cunningham told the St. Louis Dispatch that Spinks signed for less money ($2.5 million) than he actually wanted, because he wanted Mayweather that bad. Given the recent developments, Cunningham is convinced that Mayweather is ducking his fighter. Mayweather would have earned $6 million for Spinks (plus a cut from the pay-per-view money), while now earning only $5 million for Baldomir (plus a cut from the pay-per-view money).
"Mayweather ducks Spinks' should be the headline in St. Louis," Cunningham said. "Mayweather's manager, Dan Goossen, told me we had a deal. They sent the deal to (promoter) Don King. We signed the deal for less money than we wanted because Cory wanted to fight the so-called best fighter in the world."
It was said that Mayweather never signed the agreed upon contract for the fight. Now Spinks is likely going to face mandatory challenger Rodney Jones before the end of the year. Cunningham feels that once the IBF approved the fight, Mayweather should have never been allowed to back out.
"When the IBF approved that deal, there was no way they should have let Mayweather back out," Cunningham said. "The IBF had set it up so that Cory's mandatory would step aside because Spinks-Mayweather would be a huge attraction. Mayweather used our deal to get the guy that he wanted for the price that he wanted. He's picking easy fights for less money. Baldomir, who's he? A club fighter from Argentina."
