By Miguel Rivera
Carl Moretti, VP of Top Rank, and WBO President Paco Valcarcel, were stunned to see Roc Nation Sports take part, and then thrown down a tremendous sum, on the Peter Quillin vs. Matt Korobov purse bid in Puerto Rico.
Quillin, the WBO's middleweight champion, is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions. Korobov is handled by Top Rank.
As previously reported by BoxingScene, Roc Nation bid a sum of $1,904,840 to secure the promotional rights to the fight. November 8th has been mentioned with New York and Washinton DC as locations. Golden Boy bid $1.2 million and Top Rank put down a little over $515,000.
Roc Nation Sports is a sports management company founded last year by rapper Jay Z. They were represented at the purse bid by David Itskowitch, who previously worked as top level executive for Golden Boy and Lou DiBella.
"I honestly did not know that company even existed," said a surprised 'Paco' Valcárcel to Carlos Narvaez. "But they paid their attendance and showed evidence that they are a licensed promoter. It took us by surprise. That was a large amount they presented. It will be the first boxing event of that company."
Moretti told Narvaez the amount Roc Nation bid was a little excessive, but at the end of the day the two fighters will benefit from the money - which is an 75-25 split for the champion.
"I welcome them to the business of boxing. I understand what they did and in the end it's going to benefit Quillin and Korobov. We'll see how they do, but I think it was a bit excessive. Our job now is to cooperate with them to the fullest extent and make the event a success."
"For me it was a total surprise. We had breakfast in the morning and then I see Dave come in and I was surprised. Dave is an experienced person. We've worked together on a few things and this is part of the job. In purse bids, sometimes you win and others you lose. I have no problem with losing a purse bid as long as I win the fight."