By Robert Morales
With all the recent conversation about Bob Arum keeping fights in-house at Top Rank Inc., Richard Schaefer was stunned to hear that there have been similar rumblings about Golden Boy Promotions - though to a lesser degree.
He began to run down recent big fights between Golden Boy boxers and those fighting under other banners.
"Amir Khan just fought Paulie Malignaggi, who was promoted by Lou DiBella," said Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy, to BoxingScene.com. "We just did Abner Mares against Yonnhy Perez, who was promoted by Gary Shaw. On the same card we had Israel Vazquez against Rafael Marquez, who is promoted by Gary Shaw.
"I have zero interest in shutting out other promoters. I disagree with the direction Bob Arum is going in. I don't believe that for boxing, the UFC model - which is the model Top Rank is trying to follow - I just don't think that is going to work for boxing."
Schaefer was almost flabbergasted to hear that Golden Boy is even remotely being thought of in this light.
"Where is that coming from, because now (Shane) Mosley is fighting Sergio Mora (both Golden Boy fighters)?" Schaefer said. "Or maybe because of the fights on the card next weekend? One of the them is the rematch of the Fight of the Year (between Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz).
"And by the way, Daniel Jacobs, a young man which we have built up over the past few years, is fighting a very dangerous Russian in Dmitry Pirog for a vacant middleweight championship. Well, we have nothing to do with Pirog. We are putting one of our young stars in a very dangerous fight. What does that tell you?"
Robert Morales covers boxing for the Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram and BoxingScene.com
