By Mark Vester
A potential July 11 super fight between Bernard Hopkins and IBF cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek is dead in the water. It appears both sides were so far apart on money that Adamek's promoter, Kathy Duva of Main Events, sees no reason to continue negotiations with Golden Boy Promotions. From what Duva told boxing writer Dan Rafael, Golden Boy made Adamek a low-ball offer of a $500,000 flat fee.
"The only offer they made was to give us $500,000," Duva said. "I didn't even take that seriously. They wanted all the control even though they were going for the champion, the guy who sells all the tickets and the guy who isn't 44. We weren't going to do the fight in a casino. We were talking about going to Newark, a market we built. We're not going to a casino for a site fee. Those tickets don't just sell themselves. My people get out there and work really hard to sell the tickets. We're not just going to turn over our market to Golden Boy and take a seat at the fight."
Duva wanted a split of 60-40 in favor of Adamek but was willing to work with Golden Boy on the numbers. Hopkins had no interest in a split of any kind. Duva says Adamek has bigger offers on the table than what Golden Boy was trying to give them.
"Richard [Schaefer, Golden Boy CEO] told me that Hopkins said if you want to have a split, we can't do the fight. It's astonishing. Either Richard doesn't want to make the fight or Hopkins is out to lunch on his expectations. Half a million is silly. Tomasz generates that on his own against regular opponents. I told Richard come up with what you think is an equitable split or tell me what Hopkins wants and we'll buy you out."
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