By Mark Vester
Several days ago, the Peterson brothers, junior welterweight Lamont (24-0, 11KOs) and lightweight Anthony (26-0, 19KOs), signed promotional contracts with Top Rank. It appears the deals were done without the consent of co-manager Shelly Finkel.
It appears Finkel was negotiating with Golden Boy Promotions to sign both fighters. Over the last few years, Finkel has placed a majority of his fighters under the Golden Boy banner. He tells Dan Rafael that co-manager Barry Hunter, the trainer and father-figure of the two fighters, did not return his phone calls or emails and made the deal without his input.
Finkel advised Rafael that he filed an action with the American Arbitration Association to exercise his rights. He says that Golden Boy offered a better deal and if the fighters still wanted to sign with Top Rank, he could have negotiated better deals for them. He wants $300,000 in damages.
"I am requesting that my contract be upheld and they be stopped from violating it in the future," Finkel said. "They signed with Top Rank without my consent, negotiated without me and kept me out of it when I requested to see the deal before and after they agreed to it. We may end up doing the deal with Arum, but I know I could have gotten more. You bid people against each other and come up with the best deal, but Barry didn't do that and he didn't ask me."
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