By Lem Satterfield
Following Timothy Bradley's welterweight win over Carlos Abregu on July 17 in California, promoter Gary Shaw took a stand against his promotional colleagues, Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions.
Shaw complained that both of the previously mentioned promotional firms were shutting out other promoters by refusing to match their best fighters against other top fighters who are promoted by their competitors. One example presented by Shaw, is Top Rank refusing to match Manny Pacquiao against non-Top Rank fighters.
Shaw has accused Top Rank of using in-house tactics with Pacquiao by matching him against Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, and now Antonio Margarito. All three fighters are promoted by Top Rank.
Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer recently denied these type of accusations, telling BoxingScene.com that his company is not following the same in-house business format as Top Rank. Schaefer says Golden Boy is willing to work with every promoter in the sport.
Shaw promotes two of the best fighters at 154-pounds, WBO junior middleweight champ Sergei Dzinziruk and hard-puncher Alfredo Angulo. Shaw is looking to match them against the best in their division, but he refuses to make an "in-house" fight by matching Dzinziruk against Angulo.
"No I wouldn't do that. I don't agree with that," said Shaw. "I mean, why would I preach to promoters about matching their fighters only against each other and then turn around and do my own fighters against one another? No, that's not something that I would do."
Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com. To read more from Lem Satterfield, go to AOL FanHouse by Clicking Here.
